


Tanks, Fins, and Song

by QueenOfMotherfuckingTerrasen



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: And trans, BUTTONS MAKES AN ENTRANCE, Bonding, Crutchie is a tech wiz, Davey is from a tropical region so he's a vegan and is disgusted by living with two carnivores, F/F, I made SIXTEEN OCS, I made ocs for stanton island newsies and I want to include them., Jack and Crutchie broke up like years ago, M/M, Mermaids, Modern, Pods, Sirens, Spot is an angry tiger shark, They just friends, Too Many Ideas, and Smalls is a cat, and he's a siren, brooklyn is a pod, cuz why not, fishbian, gay mers, hatred of humans because, hey look, just mermaids, mermaid au, people falling in love, pulitzer is the owner, same, songs and death and some violence, spot doesn't like humans, spot is ripping a sharp apart, they all work at an aquarium, they were caugth and brought for study, they're all mers and in a pod, this will have mentions of blood and gore, warrior is old and hungry, why can't I just stick with something?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-10-05 21:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17332862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfMotherfuckingTerrasen/pseuds/QueenOfMotherfuckingTerrasen
Summary: Legends of the mers, half humans and half fish, have circled in human legends for thousands of years. Ever since the acceptance of modern science, these legends were rejected. However, all of this changed with the capture of three live mers, placed in an aquarium to be studied. Their names are Davey, Spot, and Warrior. This is the account of their experiences.-The summary is shit. I'll improve it later. Just read it, it's good.





	1. Darkness and Naps.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get introduced to our lovely cast of characters that include a murderous siren, a human-hating tiger shark, an anxious betta fish, a savvy artist, and a disaster known as Racetrack Higgins.

The lights in this tank were always set to low, barely illuminating the room. In this tank, the organisms were light sensitive, coming from the depths where no light touched. Guests were left to their own devices, wandering past the tanks with squinted eyes, trying desperately to see. Out of all of the tanks, this must have ranked the highest on her favorite list. Oh yes, the others were abundant with food and light but this one...this one won her in the way that the guests could not see her unless they got close enough to spot the outline of her long tail, the curve of her breast, and her floating hair. It was the only privacy she managed to claw from the hands of the trainers, the staff, or whatever they called themselves, every other tank allowed her to be in full view, always watched. This one was nice, dark...but nice. 

Privacy was hard to come by since her capture, a foolish mistake in going after the pod leader but she admitted to feeling...something about that small, self-sacrificing dumbass. It wasn't _love_ \- she'd never felt the romantic love to any male, human or mer, but she was fond of him. Even she could admit that...perhaps. The siren was keeping very quiet in these last months it had taken to transport them here, a month of constant check-ups and squabblings of humans before being dumped in an open tank, finally the freedom to roam or so it seemed. She hadn't opened her mouth to sing. The song in her throat yearned to be released but Warrior, as she was called, reigned it in. Best not to show her hand just yet. 

As another guest passed her, staring deeply in the tank with narrowed eyes before giving up, a shiver of amusement ran down her spine. Only here, the humans never saw her, never made vulgar gestures to her. Her...handlers as they called themselves blamed these actions on Warrior's uncovered chest. _Men have always been pigs._  She shook her head at their explanations, swimming away to her sanctuary. Most of the time, she napped here, allowing herself to put her guard down. Here, she was the apex predator. 

"Well, this isn't fair." came a low voice from near the top of the tank. Warrior flickered her dark eyes to the voice, narrowed them at Spot. "Ya found a little sanctuary," 

"I never _said_ you couldn't join me," She ruffled her fins as the small tiger shark swam down, settling down next to her. Compared to her, Spot was small but most mers were smaller than Warrior. Plus, she radiated heat, so she'd been told. 

"Ya never exactly _invited_ me," He jabbed. Warrior rolled her eyes.

"Well, excuse me," She hissed. They sat in fellow silence, watching the humans. Observing, stalking...there were many names for what they did. If they were seen, the humans might have felt uneasy by it. _Good. They deserve it._ Warrior thought with all the bitterness in her cold heart. For years, she'd hunted humans after the butchery of her pod. She sank their ships, ate their sailors, and did her best to fuck them over at every turn. She'd only stopped after joining Spot's pod, filled with misfit boys and girls, for no reason other than a change of pace. Now her life was changed again, not by choice. 

The silence stretched, at some point, they napped in the darkness of the tank. Until a good thunk on the glass awoke them. Warrior shook sleep from her head and glared at the flowing fins of what resembled a betta fish high above them. Davey with his bright blues and purples didn't belong in such a dark tank, he stood out too much. "Wake up!" He said, his tail thunking the glass again. If Warrior was doing it, she'd break the glass. Spot growled as he too, rouse from sleep. "Oh good," Davey swam down a little, keeping his distance from the two snappy carnivores. 

"What do you want, Davey?" She asked the anxious mer. Davey was a different species than Spot and Warrior, having been grabbed in warm, tropical waters than the depths of the open ocean as they were. He was bright and lean to their darker colors and sturdiness. Why, he didn't even share their carnivores diet, instead being a vegetarian by nature. He was shyer than them, less snappy.

"There's someone here to see us. They're sent by Pulitzer." 

"Tell 'em to fuck off," Spot yawned, shy of a hiss. Pulitzer had sent people before, people that tried to get them to talk or dance. People that tried to stick them all with needles. More than once, they'd driven these people off with much pleasure. It pleased both of them to screw with the humans intentions for them, whatever they were. 

Davey frowned. He didn't really curse by a rule. "Uh...yeah. They aren't going away,"

"Did you bare your teeth at them?" Warrior asked, resting her head back on the false rock. 

"No...?" 

"Why don't you try?" She suggested. 

"Can you please just come and see?" He whined, swimming back and forth anxiously. Despite his nervousness, his anxiety, Davey was stubborn. He'd come back again and again and they'd have no no peace until they went with him to see these people. 

"We're coming, we're coming." She rose, tugging the small tiger shark with her. Spot grumbled but they swam after Davey, jumping from tank to tank until they reached the center one. Her eyes quickly adjusted the the bright lights, followed by the dark catwalks with the chatter of humans. Davey half-pulled himself out of the water, resting his elbows on the cold metal. Compared the water he swam in, this was nothing but still he got goosebumps. Warrior and Spot followed in suit.

Sitting crossed legged on the catwalk, a few feet away sat two boys. One had dark hair and dark eyes, similar to Spot. The other had curly blond hair and bright yet dark eyes. The burnett was short while the blond was long and lanky. "I got them," said Davey with a hint of pride in his voice. 

The brunett broke out a smile, showing off his bright teeth. "Thanks, Davey," He said. This caused the mer to flush, looking away quickly. 

"Who are you?" Warrior said, completly unintrested. At least these humans weren’t making rude gestures or annoying them. 

"I'm Jack," said the brunett. The blond didn't answer but instead he grinned and looked at Spot.

"Hey, ya dropped something," He said. 

Spot furrowed his brows, looking around because he hadn't dropped anything. What the hell was this kid talking about. "What?" 

"Your standards," His grin widened. "I'm Racetrack." 

A laugh coaxed from Warrior's lips, the first in a long while. Davey just groaned but Spot looked...amused. This boy had charm, there was no doubt about it. "Anyway!" Jack glared at his....friend, whatever their relationship was. "I was hired by Mr.Asshole Pulitzer to sketch you guys," he gestered to the art supplies near by that composed of sketchbooks, carcoal, and several other instruments that Warrior had never seen before. 

"All of us?" Jack nodded. "And you?" Warrior turned her sharp eyes on Racetrack. Race's mouth once again spread into a smile.

"I'm here to talk." 

"Just talk?"

"It's what I'm good at." He shrugged. 

Warrior turned and scowled at Davey. "I gave up a nap for this." Then she sank back in the tank and swam back to her sanctuary but Spot stayed, his tail swaying under him. 

"Just talk?" He asked. Race nodded.

"Fine, let's talk." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a rough first chapter, at least I think so. I won't get to read this out loud to myself until tomorrow. So yeah. this is the newest idea. I hope you like it all and let's see where this goes.


	2. Smell that? It's vengeance.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Important and long background info. Warnings of blood, gore, and violence. She's a siren. What are you going to do.

When she dreamed, Warrior found herself back in the pod. Mers slept in a dog pile with the warmest and the biggest at the bottom. This person at the bottom was Warrior, almost always by her sheer size and the amount of heat she radiated. Most of the time, she slept easy but in these dreams, she was awake, watching her pod-members breath.

“War?” muttered one of the merlings. They rested somewhere, her eyes unable to find them with everyone around her, draped over her fins and flesh, soaking in her warmth. “Are ya awake?” 

“Yes,” She hissed quietly, her voice barely above a whisper as not to wake anyone else. She shifts slightly, much to everyone's groans, as to lift her head to see the little merling. “Why are you still awake, Blink?” 

The merling blinked his eyes, one lighter than the other. “Can’t sleep….can you tell me a story?” Warrior always told stories when asked, as she was older than the others. Common practice was the oldest was pod leader but Warrior was content with second in command. 

“All my stories are covered in blood and gore, Blink,” she warned him. 

Blink swam closer, settling as close to her as he could, then looked up to meet her dark eyes. “I know, tell them anyway.” So she did, the dream changing as Warrior began telling him her tales in quiet whispers. 

The first to appear was her old pod, the one she was born to and grew in with her mother and her sisters of sirens.Warrior sighed contently as her sisters slipped by her with toothy grins on their cheeks, their tails sparkling with scales that glittered in the sun. She joined them in breaking the surface to sing, lure the sailors to deaths,  and then feast. The song just felt so right, dazzling the men with whatever fantasy they adored whether it was sex, beautiful men, or even fettuccini alfredo. It wasn’t long until blood coated the water, spreading in nice, thick sheets, covering Warrior and her sisters scales, turning the water red. Warrior ripped a man apart with her teeth, smiling gleefully as she did so, savoring the familiar taste of human flesh. 

Warrior loved witnessing these memories, loved seeing her mother and sisters, swimming with the currents in their fins, sparkling scales and  _ alive _ . Warrior always seemed so aware in her dreams, smiling sadly that her sisters peppered her with questions. “What’s wrong, sister?” “Why are you frowning?” were some she always received. 

“It’s nothing,” She’d kiss their cheeks, nuzzle the little one's forehead. There was nothing she could do to prevent what came next. In her nightmares, she fought it but in these dreams, Warrior just allowed herself to be carried by the current, swept from memory to memory. At night, she’d curl next to her mother, listening to her heartbeat. Even now, all grown, Warrior was smaller than her leviathan of a mother.

“Good night, my little warrior,” She’d rumbled, kissing her daughter's head. Warrior always purred her good nights before settling for sleep, steeling herself for what would come next. All good things came to an end, Warrior’s way of life came crashing down the very next day. 

She never quite knew  _ why  _ the humans attacked them, what did they achieve from butchering and stealing her families scales. They’d worn wax in their ears, protecting themselves from the sirens songs. Warrior was off swimming, hunting some fish for breakfast when she heard the screams. She found her pod dead, butchered, and stripped of scaled. The ocean washed away her tears as she performed the funeral rites, sang the traditional mourning song before collapsing and crying her grief away. Those weeks were a muddled haze, eating only when she was hungry, swimming to any current. It wasn’t until she stumbled on a human ship that she felt it again. A song, stirring in her throat, the first since the murder of her pod. “For my mother,” The words left her throat with the first note, “For my sisters,” In the darkness, she ripped their ship to pieces, killing every human she found, and left the wreck sinking to the depths, splintered wood and cotton sails floating. 

“I was a monster,” She told Blink. “No conscious, I ripped apart those who wronged me, taking no note of who I killed or what ships I sank. My reputation was wonderfully awful. Some swam to the farthest parts of the seven seas just to avoid my wrath,” It was true, she’d worked alone since the butchery that had deadened her heart, igniting it with only revenge and hatred. Sirens went after ships, yes, but not nearly as frequently as Warrior did and because of this, no pod would allow her to join.  _ “I don’t need you!”  _ She’d snarled at one pod who openly denounced her,  _ “I don’t need any of you!” _

“Do ya regret it?” Blink asked, looking up at her with his light eyes. One was blind, a misfortune he’d been born with. It didn’t really bother him as he swam fine without it. He wasn’t innocent, none of them were innocent but he was still a child. 

“No.” She admitted. Centuries of terrorizing the seas, yes they left their scars but Warrior knew herself. Never would she have not done what she’d done, ripping men apart for the mere fun of it, biting deeply in their shoulders with the beauty of a lover, her teeth stained with gore and guts. She patted his cheek, her claws retracted as not to cut him. “And I’d do it all again.” 

“Tell me about how ya met Spotty,” He yawned, blinking his eyes, growing more and more tired. With a softer smile than Warrior ever let the pod see in daylight, she started telling him. 

It was after one of her lesser grand sinkings. A small fishing boat, one that Warrior normally might have left alone until one of their hooks snapped on her fins. She’d twisted and snarled for hours before finally ripping out, breaking the surface with a full aria clear from her throat. As she always did, she left no survivors which was excellent because she was starving. “What was that?” She looked up, blood floating around her mouth as she ripped a nice chunk out of the shoulder. Consumed in a frenzy, all that was left was bones, clothes, and the shoulders. 

“A human,” She answered, chewing slightly before swallowing, meeting the dark eyes of a tiger shark mer. He was small, at least for a mer, with dark curly hair. His arms were crossed and he was just...watching her. At her answer, he grinned slightly.

“Nice,” Most mers didn’t eat humans, they left that to the sirens. Still they didn’t protest or fight the sirens over it. He watched her rip off another piece of meat. “Badass, I like it,”

Warrior huffed after swallowing. “What is that you want, little one?” 

The tiger shark huffed. “I’m not,”

“You are small,” 

The male bit back a snarl, Warrior could see it but he gritted his teeth. “Yeah, well, I got a pod, not half mile from ‘ere. Ya should join us.” 

“What benefit is that to me?” She raised her brows, her lips slightly pulsed. A pod offer?  _ This has never happened before. _

Spot grinned as if he already knew how his pod might react to Warrior. “Yer big and badass, they’ll love ya. It’s gotta be lonely out ’ere, right?” It was lonely but Warrior had never really cared about it. Perhaps that’s why she almost refused but something stopped her. 

“I’ll consider it,” The tiger shark mer took is as his best offer and swam away in the direction of his pod, leaving the siren with the shoulders and bones. 

Warrior wasn’t sure what made her swim a mile in the direction Spot indicated, arriving upon a sleeping pod filled with mers of all different species from sharks to sea snakes but here she was, watching over them as they slept. _They're all so much smaller than me,_  she thought before her brain reminded her that most of the mers were smaller than sirens and that she had inherited her size from her mother, although she wasn't _that_ big. Yet. She felt out of sorts so she simply laid on the sand and watched with her dark eyes. Eventually, the tiger shark she'd seen before sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning, not seeing her for almost five minutes. When he finally _did_  see her, he screamed, waking the others. They all jumped up, faces pale at the sight of such a large siren, watching them as they slept. The braver ones, perhaps the reckless of the bunch, prepared their fists or drew human-made knives. 

"Jeeeeeeesus!!!! Fuck, do ya have to be so damn creepy?!!" yelled the tiger shark, swearing typical human curse worlds. Warrior flickered her brows upward.

"I wish to join you,"

"Fuckin' okay then but never do that shit again!" He shivered as if suddenly cold. 

"Fine," was all Warrior said, remaining where she was, not exactly sure if she was allowed to approach. How did pods work? Warrior wasn't so sure anymore, it was _centuries_  since she'd been in one and then, it was her family. 

"Spot? Is....is she joinin' us?" asked a sea snake, furrowing his brows curiously. 

Spot, the tiger shark, nodded. "That's right, Myron, this is...." She raised her brows at Spot, as he trailed off like he expected her to answer. By the sheer looks on the boy's faces, she knew that they knew her name already, had heard of her reputation. Still, Spot was giving her the floor to swim in and start fresh. 

So she tried. She gave her best, none threatening smile. "Warrior. My name is Warrior." It took another look to Spot before the boys seemed to relax. Immeadily, one swam up to her. He was small, a little thing, even shorter than Spot. 

"Is it true that you've sunk fifty ships?" 

She smiled her full smile, teeth, blood, and gore. "I've sunk far more than just _fifty_." More boys and girls swam up and peppered her with questions. No one ever wanted to listen to Warrior's stories and she had millions. She found herself surrounded by almost the entire pod, telling stories with snark and wit that always got her in trouble in her old pod. By the sidelines, Spot Conlon grinned. He'd been right, his boys loved her, plus she looked better already.

Time seemed to always blend when you were having fun. The Pod of Spot Conlon certainly benefitted from Warrior joining. Before, Spot Conlon just gave people the jitters. Warrior had a reputation so bad, people who wronged her fled to inland lakes or seas far from her usual swimming grounds. No one went after a smaller member of their pod or stole their food or even tried to kidnap them, not with a siren powerful enough to rip apart a great white shark. However, Warrior knew she was benefitting herself, having been raised with younger sisters, she started taking care of the mers. This included making sure everyone was eating enough and sleeping enough, indeed her favorite part of the pod was a former role of her mothers. Warrior wasn't sure how humans slept but mers slept in large dogpiles, the largest of them all at the bottom as they typically, produced the most heat. As all of the pod was smaller than her, this fell to Warrior and she loved every bit of it. The pod loved it as well because she produced as much heat as a radiator, whatever that human machine did. 

Sadly, like everything in her life, good things must come to an end. She'd lived in the pod for 204 moons, two hundred and four wonderful moons. During them, Spot raised Warrior to be his second in command. They taken up more misfets, traveled the oceans and seas, and Warrior learned to smile and slowly let go of her rage. All of that changed, one faithful night. It was storming on the surface but below, the only worry they had was of lightning although evolution long adapted their bodies to it, still the shocks were painful. They were swimming too close to the surface, far too close to Warrior's own liking but still they did it. In the aquarium, in her sanctuary, she cursed herself, hating herself for not insiting they swim deeper! But you can't change memories, no matter how hard you try. 

Perhaps it was the thunder, perhaps it was the rain that prevented them hearing the ships approach, not hearing the shouting of men until they were upon them. Screams and shouts filled the air as her pod dove down, Warrior readying her claws for something that she thought she left long ago. Battle. "Don't," Spot hissed, as he hurried to get boys to dive and get out quick. If they were fast, they might be able to use the storm to their advantage. "Make sure everyone's safe, okay?" He told her, looking her dead in the eye. His dark eyes were wild with something....some plan. Then he took off but not in the right direction! He was heading towards the ship!

"Spot!!!" She screamed but he growled back, going limp when the men threw their nets and caught him, dragging him up with some machine. It broke her heart and all the memories of her family, her old pod came floding back. Swallowing her panic, she dived down, first focusing on her pod. "Hot Shot!" She yelled, swimming down to her pod, swarming about and panicking. A quick sweap over told her everything that she needed to see. Everyone other than Spot, stupid, self sacrificing Spot - was accounted for. "Hot Shot!" She yelled again, getting the boys attention. If third in commands were a thing, this mer would be it. "Take care of the pod!" His voice collapsed in confusion as she grinned her death smile and broke through the surface, full aria rippping at her throat. 

But no matter what song she sang, circling the boat, it didn't seem to work. She flickered in tail in confusion but still, she sang. She'd never quite encountered this but she too went limp when the nets drapped over her, went limp as they hauled her aboard but then she struck. The nearerst human was a man, she lunged for his wrist and cramped down. He screamed and started beating at her head but she refused to relent. With a mighty _crunch,_ Warrior bit off the mans hand and tossed it aside, preparing to launch herself at his throat. Only her attempt was thrawted by an older human male, slamming her in the head with some instrument and knocking her unconcious. When she awoke, she was in some sort of glass box....a tank if you will. Scowling, there was Spot, pissed beyond belief. 

"You...you fucking dumass!" He cursed, clenching his fists in rage. "Why did you follow me?!!! I told you to take care of the pod!!!"

Warrior growled back, feeling the bump on her head. "I was trying to save your dumbass!!!" She roared back. 

"I don't need no savin'!!!" He growled, "Now you'se the one who need saving!!!"

"We both need saving!" She snarled. The converstation was left at that as they were uninclined to kill each other in such a small tank or ever. They always slept with the other watching, always watched out for the humans and what they might do to them. The humans were...careless more than once. At first they tossed in the food and ran like hell. However this changed after a...a incident. He was a young male, much more careless than the rest. He hadn't shut the lid quickly enough, allowing Spot to lunge and snag his teeth in the man's arm. The man screamed but quickly, Warrior followed, digging her own teeth in and dragging him into their tank. The scream attrached the attention of the rest of the crew but there was nothing they could do when Warrior teeht crushed down on the mans neck, efficently killing him and gaining herself a nice meal. After that, they threw the food in from a safe distance. Spot ate up the fish while Warrior set to work eating the fool. She even offered Spot a bite, which he took before making a face. 

"It tastes...funky." He stuck out his tongue and bit off a piece of fish as if determened to get the taste out of his mouth.

"It tastes delicious," Warrior rebuttled, taking another mouthful. 

"That's disgusting," He sputtered.

"You dragged him in." 

"Doesn't make it any less gross tasting." 

"Wimp," but he let her eat it all, rippping apart and feasting on the body for about a week before they shared the bone marrow. Now that shit was _good_. After that incident, their journey was untroubled. They swam, they talked, Warrior more than once tried to singing to sink the ship but that didn't work. Eventually they were knocked unconsious and awoke in a strange setting. Everything was white, people rush around in full white....coats with strange things covering their mouths and hands. Warrior hissed, her fins standing up threatenly. Spot was no better, in a seperate tank, swimming here and there with so much anger even Warrior could see it. She didn't like to think about this time. When she was prodded and poked with needles, constantly checked on and fed strange fish that were always dead. When they were finally dumped in a bigger, much larger tank, Warrior was relieved. Here there were fish, of all sorts and kind. Even sharks! They'd feast tonight. There was fake coral that seemed bright but still fake mixed with live specimens. Warrior thought she'd never felt so much joy. 

Quickly they explored, finding that all the tanks were connected one way or another, they simply needed to jump and with their skills, that was easy. Warrior knew that there was another mer among these tanks, a shy boy that the staff called "Davey" but he was clearly scared of them, so she left him alone. Instead, she found her sancturary and spent her days broading or watching humans. As she slipped out of sleep, she found someone staring at her. She rubbed her eyes, certain that this female could not see her with the dark lights. "There you are..." She whispered, her eyes slightly narrowed but a grin spread across her mouth. 

Warrior startled, watching the girl. She was of medium height, with dark skin as some humans had, with half of her head shaven. There was something...intresting about her. Something stirred in Warriors heart, making it beat faster and faster. She wasn't sure what it was but this human...saw her in the dark lights. She approached the glass, resting her nose against it with her own eyes narrowed. "My, you're really pretty, aren't you?" said the girl witht that smile. Warrior's fins bristled slightly. Pretty. She'd heard that word before but never in good light. Men said it before she ripped their hearts out, so she'd never considered it anythign but a simple insult of a mortal. 

"Well, I'm Spades. I just started working here. I think you and I are going to get along just fine." Warrior flicked her tail, watching as Spades moved, following her from tank to tank....there was something fascinated about her and Warrior just couldn't put her finger on it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I opened my Spotify and the first song was Brooklyn’s Here. It felt like a weird sign. This took FOREVER TO WRITE but I loved it.


	3. The Meat Fiasco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, Warrior and Spot do not understand that Davey is, in fact, a vegetarian.

Davey knew he was out of his depth when the staff dumped in two new mers in his tank. He was cleaning his scales, even from underwater, he heard their snarls and the staffs frantic running to drop something in his tank. He looked up, wondering if it was a new shark caught from the local bay or perhaps something poisonous? Before he moved to swim closer, two withering, snarling bodies were dumped in, the sea foam and bubbles cloaking them for a minute. That minute passed quickly as he saw a leviathan of a mer shake her head then lunge for one of the fleeing staff members, teeth bared. Carnivores, he thought in horror. They put me with carnivores. Davey wasn’t ashamed to admit that he fled to another tank and hid from the two. They were terrifying, would you blame him?

He avoided them the best he could, although even he was curious about them. It was the curiosity that always got him in trouble. It was what got him stuck in a glass tank, always on view. His mother warned him about not crawling too close to the shore but those tidepools - they, they were so fascinating! It wasn’t his fault he hadn’t noticed the footsteps of men until it was too late, although it was his fault he didn’t fight back, just wiggled and squirmed without biting.

He missed the warmer waters and the sun on his scales but this aquarium wasn’t too bad. He got to see all sorts of fish that he’d never encounter before and humans were interesting in their own vulgar way. He didn’t like being shown off but hiding, peeking out behind a rock with his bright blue eyes. Still, Davey knew his limits and he knew that these two might just rip him to pieces.

About a moon, after they arrived, Davey settled in his own favorite tank for a nap. The water was nice and warm like the waters he was taken from with similar fish and bright coral. It made him feel cozy and happy inside. His eyes just shut when he heard her voice for the first time. “I know you’ve been watching us. Don’t freak out. They call you ‘Davey’, don’t they?” It was the female, Davey jumped up and was gone in a minute, putting some distance between him and the mer. Was she even a mer? She was so...big. There was a possibility that she was a siren but sirens were rare, their constant battles with the humans did wonders to shrink their numbers.

“Wh….Why are you talking to me?” They’d left him alone before, what changed??? He swallowed hard, trying to keep himself calm. The mer, whatever her name was, looked to be in a calmer mood than when she first arrived, having her claws retracted and her face set in a neutral expression. She made no move to swim closer as if she knew that her mere presence made him uncomfortable. 

"I pissed off Spot," She said casually, rolling one of her shoulders as if Davey knew what that would mean. 

"W....Who?" 

"The mer I was dropped in with, small and angry? The tiger shark?" She waved her hand with a roll of the eyes. Whatever she'd said to Spot clearly left her annoyed, it was clear by the quick flash of her teeth, sharp fangs. Davey forced himself not to swim farther away. _You aren't a coward._ He reminded himself. 

"What did you say?" He asked, genuinely curious. It seemed like everything pissed off the tiger shark but the two carnivores were rarely at each other's throat. The larger mer actually smiled, teeth and all. Those teeth were surprisingly clean, sharp but clean. Although it was stupid, the smile actually made Davey relax a little and swim closer. 

"I told him to respect his elders," 

"Aren't you two the same age?" 

She barked a laugh, a sound from deep in her throat. "Hardly." They started talking like this more often with Davey a little further away but every single chat, he swam closer until he could see the whites of Warrior's, that was her name, eyes. This amused the siren, as he learned fairly quickly that she was as she described to him her adventures. She sunk ships, killed more humans than she was able to count, and been a terror in seas that Davey never swam in. His shutters to her stories made her smile, she coaxed out his laughs with wits and charm that he didn't know she had. 

Eventually, she introduced him to Spot when they finally made amends like a couple hours later. The tiger shark had a scowl all the time, it made him look angry even when he wasn't. Slowly, Davey found himself getting more and more used to their present, avoiding them only during feeding time because of their differences in diet. Among other problems the two carnivores caused that included nipping at the staff and hiding in all sorts of tanks to say out of sight, there was their....eating problem. Of course, the occasional fish went missing, that was fine. Now, the incident occured shortly after Davey was befriended by Warrior. Davey was swimming in his tank, minding his own business when he noticed the pair circling the aquarium’s great white shark. He frowned, watching the two of them, both disturbed and curious by their actions. 

“Guys? What are you doing?” He asked, furrowing his brows. They didn’t answered, continuing to circle the great white shark. He yelped when Warrior unleashed her claws and raked them across the sharks belly, blood filling the water. He drew back as Spot sank his teeth in its dorsal fin. They continued to rip the mist apex predator apart as Davey watched in utter horror, his face paling. A scream must have left his mouth because both of them looked up, blood smeared across their lips and sharp teeth on full display.

“Hey, Davey,” Warrior swam up to him, a piece of meat in hand. “Want some?” She offered it to him. Disgust rolled in his stomach and quickly he fled, swimming off to another tank entirely. 

“You know, Spotty,  I was just thinking. I don’t think Davey is eating enough.” said Warrior as she ate the piece she offered to Davey.

”That ain’t healthy,” Spot ripped off another piece of the shark. “We should go find ‘im.”  And off they went, dragging pieces of the shark with him. Strangely whenever they found Davey, he’d scream and swim off again, terrified for some odd reason. This only confused Spot abd Warrior even more as they continued to pursue the mer. Davey continuef to hide, throughly being traumatized by the two carnivores. This lasted several hours until finally he found a way to put a stop to it. Race just arrived, had rolled his pants up and was resting his legs in the water. Davey gripped the catwalk and _pulled_. Inelegantly he dragged himself behind Race, wiggling his tail, making scared noises in his throat.

”Davey-?” Race barely got the word out before Spot surfaced, still dragging the shark fin in his mouth, dedicated as ever. “Holy shit! Ahh, Spotty, where’d ya get that?”

He spat the fin out to answer. “The great white.”

”Why did ya do that?”

”He needs food.” Spot’s dark eyes narrowed at Davey’s tail that was too big to hide completely behind Racetrack.

“But, Spotty,” Race pointed out, “We feed ya.”

”No, he needs fresh food.” Then Warrior emerged with a live fish clamped between her teeth carefully, Race could only imagine how hard _that_  must be. “He’s too damn skinny.” Spot added and Warrior nodded.

She let the fish go, catching it with her hands as if determined to keep it alive. “Look, Davey! It’s still alive, an easy meal!” She sounded...encouraging and that’s when it hit Race. He knew what they were trying to do.

”Oh geez, you guys are like cats!” He laughed, rubbing his temples. The mers furrowed their brows in confusion, wondering what in the seven seas was a cat??? “Listen up you two, Davey here doesn’t need meat. He’s a herbivore, it probably would make ‘im sick.” He explained.

Spot shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.” Warrior nodded but that was fair, their thinking.  They came from a section of the ocean where if you didn’t eat meat then you died. To them, the idea of simply not being able to eat meat just didn’t make any sense. 

“He just doesn’t need it,” Spot swam closer and placed the bloody shark fin on the catwalk. 

“It’ll be there when he does then.” He said firmly. Davey felt like he was going to be sick but he kept that to himself. The two carnivores swam off and Davey got back in the water, talking out his traumas with Race. Hours later after the “meat fiasco” as Race was calling it, Warrior swam up carefully with something in her mouth, Davey was this close to jumping out of the water until he saw it was seaweed! When she offered it, he took it gladly and as he chewed, Warrior nodded and dove down to tell Spot. 

Spot was still unconvinced but he brought seaweed to Davey anyway because the mer was “too damn skinny”. After that, Davey didn’t mind. Days passed, Jack came in and brought Davey a treat! It was what the humans called ‘fruit’! “It’s an apple, try it,” Jack encouraged. Davey took it and took a careful bite. 

“It’s delicious!!!” He cheered, juice dripping down his chin. Jack smiles, his brown eyes sparkling.

”Glad you like it, I’ll bring you another next time. Mind getting up here?” Jack patted the catwalk. Davey obliged, knowing that Jack wanted to sketch him, just on his side as he always did. Strangely, he didn’t mind it when Jack stared at him, his tongue out in concentration and those brown eyes narrowed....Davey was surprised he liked it when _Jack_ watched him but no one else. He didn’t mind it when Jack got closer to get the right pattern of his scales, make sure the freckles were in the right place, or even the curve of his back. Strangely, his cheeks flushed and Davey’s heart started to flutter....that was odd but Davey said nothing but sigh like a love struck idiot.

_Dammit. Why does Jack have to be sooo cute?_


	4. Calm down ya oversize goldfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spot has feelings and Race is trying to not die.

Strangely this wasn’t the weirdest job Racetrack Higgins ever had. That title was held by two previous jobs. The first was working at a thrift store three blocks away from his childhood home - the stuff he saw there, just wow. The second was his bout of illegal drag racing where he didn’t earn his nickname. Still, he thought as his fingers tapped against his thigh, this one takes third place at the most. 

His job was easier than Jacks who just befriended the smallest of the mers, Davey. Both Spot and Warrior ignored him except when he was talking to Davey. For whatever reason, Warrior adopted the smaller mer, going as far as to watch Davey interact with Jack with narrowed eyes. If Jack waved her over, her mouth pulled back a snarl and showed all of her pointed teeth.

“Pulitzer'll have mah head if I don’t do anythin’ of ‘er,” Jack complained to him at a Starbucks before Race’s shift. 

Race took a quick sip of his frappuccino. “Uh huh and she’ll kill ya if ya try takin’ to ‘er.” 

Jack sighed his face in his hands. “I’mma have to die for mah art, Racer,” 

“Sucks to be you!” He gave his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Give it a couple weeks, she might come around!” Turns out Warrior wasn’t coming around. Neither was Spot but that was Race’s job to fix, wasn’t it? He didn’t really know. His job description was sorta...weird. 

“Just talk to them. Make them less snappy.” Pulitzer had told him. Race was decent at talking to people but mers? Uhhh….that seemed to be debatable but Race didn’t let it get to him. He showed up at night, waiting on the floor near the edge of the tank to see if a mer would indulge him in conversation. 

This led to one of Spot’s greatest annoyance because unfortunately, Racetrack was cute. And persistent. Race noticed that even when Spot wasn’t talking, he was always watching, not that he minded. This annoyed the hell out of Spot because whenever he went to the mers for advice for this weird fluttering feeling that showed up whenever he looked at Race. They weren’t much help. 

“Talk to him,” said Davey. 

“Kill ‘im.” said Warrior.

“Warrior!!!” They both yelled. 

“I can’t just...just kill ‘im!” Spot rubbed his flushed face. Warrior looked at him with rolled eyes. She was settled on the rocks, her tail draped across some coral here and there. Little remora fishes were picking at her scales, keeping them clean. 

“If ya won’t kill ‘im, then I will.” She cracked her knuckles, the sound reverberating in the water. 

“You!! You can’t do that!!” shouted Davey, his fins clear with distress. 

A wicked smile stretched across Warrior’s mouth. “I’ve doin’ it for years.” Davey paled in absolute horror while Spot just shook his head. She looked at Spot and smiled. “I’ll get ‘im, don’t worry.” 

“PLEASE DON’T!!!” Davey screamed as Spot sighed and swam away. This lead to Davey swimming up to a waiting Race with a warning. “Hi, Race,” He fidgeted, swimming back and forth. 

“Hey, Davey, what’s up?” His legs were in the water that day, stupidly. Warrior was probably lurking somewhere but didn’t want to traumatize Davey. 

“Uh…..so Warrior might murder you….stay out of the water….please.” the words fell out of the mers mouth, leaving Race to blink at him.

“Thanks??? Why does she want to murder me??” He scrambled to pull his legs out of the water, backing up a good couple of feet. Of course, it was likely that Warrior might just launch herself out of the water to get him - she could after all with all her length. 

“I...uh….never mind. Just ask Spot.” Then he dived back down, swimming around. Race left early that day, terrified out of his mind. But he didn’t quit, like he was going to let Warrior chase him away, this was paying decent money! Plus Spot was pretty cute, it was a win-win!

The next day, he sat a few feet away and waited for Spot to show up as he usually did. He learned pretty on that Mers had both lungs and gills. Although they didn’t necessarily need to refill their lungs like dolphins - they just liked doing it. “Hey, Spotty!” He called, a grin spreading on his face.

Spot looked over, narrowing his eyes at the far away from human. “The hell are ya doin’ all the way over ‘here?” He swam over to the edge, close to the floor but Race was a solid ten feet away. 

“Why does Warrior wanna kill me?” He asked, a question for question. 

“Be more specific, she always wants to kill more humans.” It was true. Warrior snapped at staff, snarled at guests, and just seemed to hate the human race in general. The only exception seemed to be the night security guard, a charming lady that called herself Spades. She followed her around between her rounds and just watched her. 

This was clearly going to be an uphill battle but one Race was more than willing to wage. His life was on the line here.“Okay,” Race started, “them why did Davey say to ask ya?” 

Spot cursed. “That little shit-” 

“Spotty,” Race spread his arms with a slight shrug. “I’m just tryin’ not to die ‘ere,” 

Spot narrowed his eyes the way he always does, a snarl on his lips. “Who says I’m tryin’ ta protect ya?” 

“Oh??? So ya want me to be ripped to bloody ribbons by Warrior???” Race just arched his brows. Bullshit, he thought as he started doing something stupid. He stood up, walked about five feet closer and sat down closer. If he wanted, Spot could reach him but he didn’t. That was a good sign. 

Little did he know, more because he couldn’t see it, Warrior was swimming beneath Spot, twisting and twirling trying to get past Spot. He kept flickering her away with his tail - just out of Racetrack’s view. Why is he doin’ ‘his Warrior thought as she hissed only to be pushed away again. “I ain’t opposed to it.” Warrior perked up but then she got wacked again. 

“Woooooow,” said Race with a pout. “I thought ya like me.” 

Spot only grinned back, “‘here in the fuck did ya get that idea?” Race inched closer, enough to see Warrior twisting in the water. His face blanched slightly but he continued with his bravado because screw it. 

“Ya are always lookin’ at me. ‘Specially when ya think I ain’t lookin’.” 

“So what? You’se look funny.” 

“Mhm. Ya think I’m cute,” Race’s cheeks flushed but he kept a shit eating grin on his face. 

“Nah, I think you’se weird looking’-” Then Warrior rose up, her teeth bared, up to Spot’s waist. “COULD YA NOT???” He glared at the older siren and pushed her away, clear in Race’s sight. Warrior snarled at the younger and smaller mer but she swam away, Race waited until he couldn’t see Warrior at all before coming closer to the edge of the tank. If he wanted, he could put his legs in the water. Relief must have shown on his face because Spot snarled, eyes narrowed. 

“Who said you’se safe with me?”

Race shrugged. “Ya chased away ‘er.” 

Spot rolled his eyes. “Maybe I just wanna kill ya myself.” 

Race smiled a shit-eating grin, “I’ll take me chances,” 

This just irritated Spot more because _the fuck_. What the absolute fuck??? He was Spot Conlon, leader of the biggest pod in the Atlantic! Who the fuck was this human not to be scared of him??? He was fucking infamous and yet this little shit was grinning at him! Maybe that’s why Spot did the second most impulsive thing in his life. It probably wasn’t the second or even the third but it was on the list. 

Spot lunged out and grabbed Race’s legs. Before Racetrack could scream or breath, he yoinked the lanky blond down into the water. Race just stared at him, blue eyes wide and his mouth ajar for a second before he slammed it shut. They were an okayish depth, maybe ten or fifteen. Nothing Race could drown in, that wasn’t Spot’s intention as he leaned back arms crossed. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Warrior pop out from behind some rocks. “ _Jesus_ , do you ever go away?” He hissed at her, his voice to Race was probably unintelligent, he didn’t know what the humans could hear underwater. 

“Always watching,” Warrior replied, her eyes narrowing on Race who was absolutely terrified. “Want me to kill ‘im?” Her fins were perked with excitement, she looked thrilled. 

Before he knew what he was doing, he wrapped himself around Race, or as most as he could since Race was inhumanly tall, and his fins were flared up in warning. “Go away!!” he snarled at her. Warrior swam closer for a second and circled, watching both of them. 

"Are you sure? It would be so easy -” and that’s when Race’s mind blanked. Holy shit holy shit holy shit she’d huge holy fucking shit she's going to kill me fuck fucking hell why did I take this job????? Fuckkk!! 

“Back off!” Again Spot snarled. 

Her fins seem to deflate and she pouted. “Fine,” she said before swimming away, for good this time. Spot huffed before starting to drag Race back towards the surface. He yeeted him out as softly as he could. Race breathed happily, gasping like a dying fish on land. Spot stayed in the water, arms crossed with an expression similar to >:(. 

“I could kill ya easy. Don’t forget it.” He threatened and turned to dive back to the depths but Race spoke. 

“But ya didn’t.”

“Excuse me?” 

Race sat up, still breathing heavily. His eyes were still slightly wide and he was soaking wet. “Ya coulda let War kill me but ya didn’t.” He took another breath. “Like it or not, Spotty, ya care about me.” 

The mers eyes narrowed and his frown deepened. “I - I don’t care about ya.” A blush spread across his cheeks, annoyingly so. 

A smile was loose on the wet humans' lips. “Sure ya don’t, you oversized goldfish.” 

Spot hissed at him and dived into the depths. Race took this as a sign of progress. He left soon after getting a change of clothes, something he always brought since working at the aquarium. He needed a smoke. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long. I was very busy. Midterms came and went and I was v e r y stressed.


	5. That's a big gal.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is desperate to get some references for Warrior and turns to the one human that the siren seems to like for help.

Jack accepted that at some point or another, he was going to die during this job. Now officially two months in, at some point or another, Warrior’s teeth were going to clamp down on his leg or arm and drag him into the tank. He hoped he drowned first before she ripped him to shreds. 

“It’s unfair!” He complained to Race, the only one he could complain too. Race was in the clear! Since the “oversized goldfish” of a tiger shark dragged his friend in the tank, Warrior had taken a liking to him! Now, if Race was sitting and waiting for Spot, Warrior would come up to him and chat like a civil person!! If Jack even got close to her, the mer narrowed her eyes and smiled slowly to show all her teeth. 

“Uhhh...take yer complains to War,” said the unhelpful Racetrack Higgins who was just glad to be off Warrior’s kill list. 

Maybe that’s why he dreaded being pulled into Mr.Pulitzer’s office. He knew what was coming. Out of all the drawings, the rough sketches and the more detailed one, he had practically nothing of Warrior. Oh, sure, he had sketches! Extremely rough sketches from either security footage that was just way too fast or when Spades held her entranced. One day, Davey offered to sit in front of Jack and make sure that Warrior didn’t eat him. It had worked but it was the fastest time Jack ever sketched because Warrior was beyond pissed. Her teeth were bared, her claws out, and she was ready to lunge past Davey and get herself a snack. It was the most irritating and terrifying moment of Jack’s life. Irritating in that he couldn’t take his time and sketch properly and terrifying because well...Warrior. 

He stood in Pulitzer’s office, the man going through Jack’s sketches of the first two mers. Davey’s were the best out of them all, Spot was just starting to let him sketch. Since he wasn’t in any danger, Jack was able to take his time and write little notes about scales and colors to fill in right. The most embarrassing sketches were Warriors, the roughest outline of her shape and length and quickly scribbled notes in terrified handwriting. “Mr. Kelly, why is there practically nothing for the female?” Pulitzer never called Warrior by her name, if he even knew it was her name but Jack wasn’t about to correct him. “And this quality. I thought you were better than this, Mr. Kelly,”

He cleared his throat. “Umm…..well, ya see, sir. She wants to kill me.” 

“And?” Pulitzer deadpanned. Jack flickered between two emotions. One was wanting to punch Pulitzer right in the jaw and the other was squirming like a scolded child. He showed neither. 

“Sir, this makes it kinda hard to sketch ‘er.” Before Pulitzer could continue, Jack got there first. “Sir, she’ll rip me to shreds. I’ve seen ‘er murder a shark and stare at me as ‘he ripped its fin off.” He breathed to avoid the memory, “it’s terrifyin’.” 

“This is not my problem, Mr. Kelly. Fix this or I will find someone else to do the job.” He commanded, Jack nodded and said his yes sirs before running out of the room. He went out to meet Race for a cup of coffee before Race shift. 

“Pulitzer'll have mah head if I don’t do anythin’ of ‘er,” Jack complained to him at a Starbucks before Race’s shift. Race took a quick sip of his frappuccino

“Uh huh and she’ll kill ya if ya try takin’ to ‘er.” 

Jack sighed. His face in his hands. “I’mma have to die for mah art, Racer,”

 “Sucks to be you!” His friend teased and patted his shoulder. Soon Racer left for his shift and the whole pull in fiasco happened and now Warrior was cuddling up to Racetrack!! Jack wanted to scream in outrage. One day he pressed an underwater camera in Race’s hands. It was nothing too expensive, only thirty dollars. “What’s this for?” He frowned, looking at it. 

“It’s an underwater camera. Since War is all cuddly to ya now, I need ya to get some pictures.” He explained. 

“All right, that ain’t too hard.”  Race brought pictures back the next day but those weren’t even satisfying. In fact, they made Jack want to scream, not at Race, of course, this wasn’t his fault but DAMN the circumstances. 

“Goddammit!!!” He yelled in his apartment. Most of the pictures were blurry or didn’t have the right angles, although some of them might work but couldn’t he catch a break??? Apparently not. This is what led him to seek out the help of Spades, the security guard that Warrior seemed to have a weird interest in. It was weird in the fact that the mer watched her all the time and didn’t try to eat her, didn’t interact with her or maybe they did. Jack didn’t know. So one night he stayed late at the aquarium and after she got settled, he went to her. “Hi,” 

“Hey,” She was leaning back in her chair, arms crossed like a cool kid. She was taller than him, standing at around 5’10 or 5’11 if he had to guess but moving on. “Yer Jack, right?” 

“Yeah, that’s me.” He nodded. Even now, he felt Warrior’s eyes on him, peeking out from the water. He hoped that she wasn’t listening. “Listen, Warrior hates me and seems to like ya. Is there any way ya can….talk to her?” He knew that he was asking a lot but he needed this job. It paid decent money and he was willing to die for his art, he just didn’t want to go there...yet. 

“She don’t talk to me.” Spades looked over to where Warrior was watching. “Do ya?” The mer narrowed her eyes and disappeared. “But I can try.” 

“Thanks,” Jack sighed and left her be. Spades did her rounds, care of the edges of the tank. Her predecessor made the mistake of falling in when the mers were brand spanking new. She'd seen the footage, watched them lose their footing in the section of uneven floor and go right into the tank. Thankfully, they survived but Warrior had been in clear sight. Quickly the mer wrapped themselves around the unfortunate soul, circling it similar to how the shark would. Claws out, teeth spared, with that look in her eyes. It seemed to Spades that it was a warning. _I could but I won't._ The man quit from the experience alone and Spades took the job not long after. 

Maybe she was distracted. Maybe she wasn't thinking straight - although she never really thought straight. Get it??? No??? Oh come on that's a good one. But still, there were a thousand factors on why this shouldn't have happened. Spades wasn't clumsy. She knew where the floor randomly dipped way to close to the tank. Yet despite all her knowledge, Spades found herself plunging in the cold water and sinking in shock. Not only from tripping but from the giant mer, Warrior swimming closer to see _why_ there was a human in her tank. 

She stared at the mer in both wonder and awe but also absolute terror.  _Holy shit,_ Spades thought as she slammed her mouth shut trying to save as much oxygen as she could. Yeah, she'd seen Warrior far away and on security cameras but neither really did her justice. Her face was prettier up close even with her sharp teeth. Her skin was tanned, covered in spots from obvious exposure to the sun. Her tail was long, scaled with flared fins of red, while the rest were more of a...dark teal if Spades took a gander. Her eyes were a dark brown, Spades hadn't noticed that they burned, burned like hot coals. Her hair was surprisingly short and Spades wondered how she cut it.

She covered her mouth as Warrior swam closer, practically wrapping around her. With her tail, she was bigger and larger than her. There was a different look in her eyes, different from when she'd done the same thing to her predecessor. This one was not one of malice, not one of rage or fury. She looked...curious. Spades knew that she was losing her mind, thought that she had already drowned when she felt arms wrap around her waist and tug her upward, gently pushing her back on solid ground outside the tank where she could take in necessary oxygen. 

She was soaked to the bone, breathing hard for several minutes. Then she sat up and found Warrior swimming back and forth by the edge. An expression alight on her features...was it....worry? Spades wasn't sure. "Ya saved me." She breathed. 

"It was a stupid way to die." was all the mer said. She wrung her hands. _She's worried_ , Spades thougth again, shocked slightly but she didn't show it. She was too cool for that, instead, she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. 

"I'm Spades," She said even though she'd already told the mer her name. First day on the job after she found her hiding in that tank. But could mers hear through glass???? She wasn't sure. 

"I know." Oh. That solved that. She rubbed her neck, trying not to be awkward which was hard because Warrior was pretty damn gorgeous. Even if she apparently wanted to murder all of humanity. "If we are trading names, then I am Warrior," She swam to the edge of the tank and Spades didn't back up or scoot away. Warrior rested her chin on the edge, watching the human. 

"Uhhh...can I ask a favor? For a friend?"

"I just saved yer life, is now really the time to baragain?" 

"Yes??" Warrior rolled her eyes. "Listen, my friend, Jack needs ya to _not_ eat 'im for five seconds - " Spades made it halfway through her request before Warrior growled. Full on _growled._

 _"_ No." She snarled. "That man deserves to be drowned and eaten." 

"Do ya just have a taste for the flesh of men???" 

"I don't discrimante, I eat all humans." She said proudly, a satisfying smirk on her plump lips. 

"Oh....but ya really hate Jack. Why?" No one in staff could figure out why. Day one had been rocky sure but by the second week, Warrior declared her mission to eat the short artist much to everyone's dismay. 

The mer stayed quiet for a few minutes. "Ya won't understand," She said at long last, her eyes glancing away. Was that a blush on her cheeks? Spades scooted closer to see and there it was! A fine pink spread across the mers cheeks and neck.

"Try me," She encouraged with her best smile.

 Warrior stared at her for a long time as if weight the pros and the cons. If it would be better to just yank her in the tank and drown her than answer if it was as embarrassing as it seemed it was. At long last, the mer opened her mouth and answered. "'is song... it's about Davey." 

The mer seemed to have been right. Spades _didn't_ understand but she wanted to. She furrowed her brows, another question on her lips. "His song?" Warrior nodded as if it was obvious. "Uhhh....can ya explain 'he whole song 'hing???" She asked, edging on what she could get away with. 

The mer sighed indignantly and rubbed her face. "Humans!" She hissed to the heavens as if to some sort of diety but she explained anyway. "I ain't-a mer. Not like Spot or Davey, I am a siren." She puffed out her chest proudly and Spades forced herself not to look at her uncovered breasts - same Spades, same. "You humans have songs that state your desires. I can hear it, use it against you." She said all of this with pride dancing in her eyes but her mood seemed to change as quickly as the sea at high tide. " _And his song is about Davey_." She hissed, clearly unpleased. 

"So yer telling me," Spades started, "that ya want to kill Jacky over a song???" Warrior looked absolutely done with her shit but still she stayed. 

"It _means"_ She said slowly, "that he is in love with Davey," 

"Yeah, I got that. Ain't that a good thing??" 

The siren narrowed her eyes at the human. " _He doesn't deserve him._ " And that's when Spades figured out that this was a losing battle. She put her hands up in defeat. 

"Okay, Okay, sorry I asked." She said, climbing to her feet. She was freezing and wet. Her teeth were starting to fucking chatter. "I'm going to uh....go change." Warrior nodded as if she supposed that was reasonable. 

"Will ya be coming back?"

"My shift doesn't end till 6 am." It was around three am in the morning. Probably. Spades didn't know or care. The siren tilted her head, a confused look on her face from the time. _I guess hours aren't really a thing in the ocean._ Spades guessed. 

"Do ya want to keep doin' this?" asked the siren. Shae added another word when Spades tilted her head in confusion. "Talkin'?" she answered as if it was obvious. 

"Oh! So ya don't want to ignore me anymore!" Spades grinned as Warrior face fell. 

"Savin' ya was a mistake." She grumbled. Spades smiled. Ahhh, progress. "I'mma just change then sure. We can do _all_  the talkin' ya want." The siren nodded before diving down deep, disappearing to another tank to get some food or maybe nap for a little bit. Spades headed to the locker areas where she could change. It had been an intresting night but it was the start of something, Spades just didn't know what. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a javid chapter but nope. The Brooklyn Gals kicked down my door and held me hostage, until I woke up in a daze and this was written. What happened?? I don't know but enjoy.
> 
> -  
> I forgot to mention but I don’t own Spades. She belongs to @allthenewsiesaregay-bitch or StariNight here. Go check her out, she’s awesome.


	6. Aww cute, they're kissing - HOLY SHIT, WARRIOR NO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This should be as fluffy as a goose feather pillow. So long as Warrior doesn't try and eat Jack. Warrior, what do ya say?  
> Warrior: no.  
> God dammit.

Davey was stressed. Always. It was a regular thing when your only two friends were two carnivores with problems with authority. Despite constantly stressing and yelling at "H-Hey!! You can't do that!! Warrior, you're going to get in trouble!!", Davey wouldn't trade Spot and Warrior for the world. Still, they were very stressful and every time Jack and Race visited, it was like the rain stopped for five minutes. Spot talked with Race and Warrior slept in her sanctuary until they were both gone unless she wanted to talk to Race too. 

"Hey, Dave," Jack came in. Spades texted him that Warrior settled in for the night, therefore, it was safe for him to come and visit. He carried his art supplies in one hand and in the other was a plastic bag. Davey saw them in the ocean all the time even taking pleasure in dumping them back on land. Jack sat himself down on the edge of the tank, laid out all of his art stuff far enough from the edge. 

"What's in the bag???" asked Davey, his fins raised with curiosity. Jack grinned, a good sign. From the plastic bag, he pulled out a plastic container filled with little blue....balls. Don't mind the author covering her face and sighing heavily, that's normal. 

"I got ya somethin'," He popped open the container. "Alright, so these are called blueberries. They a...they a kind of fruit." With both hands tightly on the container, Jack offered Davey the fruit. "Though ya would like em, since yer blue and they's good." Jack smiled big. Carefully, Davey took one or two berries and popped them in his mouth. He chewed them quick, delighted with the slightly tart but sweet taste in his mouth. He grabbed a handful and popped them in his mouth. 

"Oh, Jackie! They're really good!" He beamed up at him, his tongues blue and his fingers sticky. "Try some!" Jack had set the container near the edge of the tank and Davey grabbed a handful and offered them to Jack with a big smile. 

"Nah, I'm good. Don't like 'em." 

"But Jackie-"

"Don't ya worry! I brought my own." Out of the bag, he took out another container of berries except these are red. "These are raspberries, these are mah favorite." Jack popped open the container and offered Davey one, he took one and tried but this time his face scrunched up. 

"Blehhh. No thanks," He popped more blueberries in his mouth to wash away the taste of the icky raspberries.

Jack just shrugged. "More for me then!" He cheered as they settled in eating their berries. They chatted. Most of it was about nonchalant stuff. Jack ranted how unfair it was that Race wasn't going to get killed by Warrior and Davey felt guilty as he whined about how _exhausting_ his only two friends were. He felt ungrateful but Jack listened and nodded along with every story. They ate so many that Davey noticed whenever Jack spoke or laugh that his tongue was bright red, more so than usual. 

"Your tongue is red," He observed, his head tilted. 

"Yeah, well yers is blue!" 

"What???" Davey stuck out his tongue to see that it was in fact blue! "Ahhh!! Thawts sworta coow!" He said with his tongue out before sticking it back in. Jack laughed, making Davey's cheeks flush. He smiled back, small and timid. He liked Jack's laugh, it was...nice. Loud but nice. 

"So yers is blue and mine is red." Jack chuckled. Then he had an idea. A stupid, wonderful idea that was, either way, going to get him killed. "Hey, Dave, do ya want to make purple?" The look on Davey's face made him want to laugh and say something like 'I'se just jokin'!' and laugh it off like he wasn't a bi disaster. He looked a little shock, his mouth just a little ajar but it was the blush spreading across Davey's cute face that made him wait. Nervously wait but still wait. 

"Make...purple? Uh....oh." Davey flushed red and swam closer. Jack expected him to swim over to him but instead, he went to the containers of berries, pushing them back as far as he could reach and Jack's art supplies too. 

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Making sure they don't get wet." In a second, Davey pulled himself up on Jack's lap. He was a bit heavy and wet but it was nothing Jack couldn't handle. Instead, he was a bit lost in Davey's big blue eyes and jawline as the mer adjusted himself here and there to get comfortable and best as he could. "There we go!" He happily sighed.

Unfortunately, that's when the disaster of Jack's personality kicked in. "Uhhh so do - do mers kiss?" He stuttered out. 

Davey looked at him with _that_  face. "Yes, mers kiss." He said with a bit of a groan. "Now, about that making purple??? Before Warrior...I don't know, wakes up and kills you?" 

"Oh - right." Groaning inside at this first kiss, Jack kissed Davey. His lips were wet and cold - no doubt from the water but Jack didn't care. Didn't care when they slipped their tongues into each other's mouth and mixed the colors together making sweet, sweet purple. Jack loved every single second of it. Even if it made Warrior rip his throat out - it was worth it. So, so worth it. He actually whined, _fucking whined,_  when Davey pulled away for air. As they both breathed, Jack saw that Davey's tongue was purple and it made him grin. 

After they got air in their lungs, Davey said it. "I'm doing that again." 

"By all means, Dave-" and Davey kissed him to shut up. By the end of the night, Jack left with a dark purple tongue and dazed eyes. He plopped into bed happy, content and grinning like an idiot. Race looked at him with confused eyes. 

"What did ya do?? Get high???" 

"Naah. Did somethin' better." After coaxing out the details that Jack kissed a fish, Race left his friend alone, shaking his head because suddenly his friend was a lovestruck idiot. He didn't sign up for this. Even though he too wanted to kiss a fish. 

The next morning, Warrior was raging. Jack didn't come in early or anything but she felt the song, heard it hanging in the air, Jack's song and oh was it clear as day. She hated it, hated Jack because of it. "I'se gotta kill 'em!" She practically screamed. Her teeth were bared and claws out. Her fins were flared and _she was livid._ If she saw Jack, she was going to kill him no matter what. And then she'd eat him because that boy was a snack. Not in that way but still a snack. 

Of course, Davey was swimming around her, freaking out, his fins flared out. "Or you, coulda ya know, not!!" He yelled at her, swimming frantically. 

Spot on the other hand was swimming a little far away. He was covering half his face, listening to the two argue back and forth. He had no signed up for this either. "Jesus," He muttered as he swam off, looking for just a little bit of peace and quiet. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Fluff! This was cute! Right??? Adorable. More cute shit tomorrow.


	7. We'se both fish lovers, Jackie.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spot just wants peace. He gets far from it.  
> Also  
> twooooo brooos  
> chilling in a hot tub  
> TWO INCHES APART CUZ THEY ARE GAY

Spot Conlon didn’t ask for much. From Warrior, there was the occasional nap in her sanctuary and a sparring match. With Davey, he asked him to eat more. The damn boy was too skinny, he’d never survive the colder currents without some meat on his bones. Yet today all he wanted was peace and he wasn’t getting it.

Warrior was _still_ screaming about killing Jack - three days later!! Three!! Davey was still arguing with her and Spot was _done._ He slept more, hoping that when he woke up War would be slightly calmer. Nope, she was more pissed than a shark in a feeding frenzy. In the end, he jumped into another tank and swam all the way to the other side of the aquarium and stayed there. Was it a bit lonely? Sure but it was the silence he needed.

Of course, Racetrack found him. He was being way too stupid, his pants rolled over his knees and his legs were in the water. “The hell ya doin’?”

Race looked up to see the tiger shark mer was swimming in front of him, his tail careful not to wack Race’s legs. His arms were crossed and his dark eyes narrowed, a scowl on his lips. “Do ya want to die?”

“Hi, Spotty!” He grinned, resting his elbows on his knees. The mer rolled his eyes. It took _way_ too long to find exactly where Spot was staying, keen to avoid the

“Yer lucky that Warrior is still arguin’ with Davey. Otherwise, ya be dead.” He huffed. He was suddenly glad that he was nowhere near their normal spot because Warrior might eat Race too, just out of spite and pure rage. _Da hell, Spot? Ya don’t care!_ He thought to himself with frustration.

“Aww, she wouldn’t eat me.” Race was pretty sure she would. Spots face pretty confirmed it plus the wack on his legs. “Ow!” Race pulled the leg out, hissing under his breath. Yeah, that one was going to bruise. Mhm, definitely. I feel you, Race, with my clumsy ass heart. 

“Don’t be daft.” The mer scolded him. “She’d eat ya.”

“Awww, Spotty, ya do care!” He grinned, still hugging his leg. Spot rolled his eyes and huffed again. “So why’s War so mad?” he changed the subject, seeing how this one might just cause Spot to leave and sulk underwater where Race wasn’t able to reach him.

“Somethin’ about Jack and Davey. Do ya know what ‘e did t’ piss ‘er off so much?” He was actually curious on why the fucking hell Warrior was so damn mad. Sure, she hated Jack but that was normal. Sure, she wanted to kill him but now she was livid, spitting mad and raging. He’d only seen her like this when one of the boys got hurt which was thankfully rare.

“They kissed or somethin’. Jack’s a lovestruck idiot right now.” Race rolled his shoulders, careful not to fall back in. “Ya saw her like this before?”

“Once or twice,” Spot pulled himself up next to Race cuz why the fuck not. “One of our boys, this kid named Kid Blink, got nicked in a fight with ‘nother pod. She was livid.” Spot remembered how  she raged. Blink was nearly gutted, sure, but Buttons patched him up fine. Most of the boys swore her eyes turned red, Spot had his hands full already but the next day Warrior fucking _vanished_. No word, no note, nothing. She was just gone. Thankfully, Warrior came back a week later, her teeth and claws stained red and she had more cuts on her. No one wanted to ask for details and Warrior never said.  

“She always been protective?”

Spot nodded. At first, not really, not when she was new but after a couple of moons, yeah. She was the biggest out of them and the oldest. “Motherly instincts’. She called the boys in the pod ‘’er sons’.”

“Yer kidding.” Race stared at him. “Warrior??? _Motherly_???” He wanted to laugh but Spot’s face was serious. “Wait. Ya ain’t kiddin’??” His mouth was a little ajar in shock. There was no way that raging Warrior was ever motherly.

“Ya’ve seen it.”

“No, I ain’t seen it.”

Then Spot said two words. “Meat fiasco” 

“ _Oh_. But how is ‘er hatin’ Jack bein’ motherly?”

Spot sighed, leaning back slightly and thinking about it. He thought for a long while, going over it in his head. Race stayed quiet, as hard as that was. He didn’t want to break Spot’s concentration, fingers tapping against his tail. “I guess...she don’t think Jack deserves ‘em,” he said at long last with a bit of a shrug.

“But wouldn’t ya want...yer son to be in love??” If this was the big issue, Race wanted his future kids to be happy and in love. Spot shrugged.

"Ain't worth fightin' over," And they left it like that. 

"War was yer second, right?" Spot nodded. "Why?" 

Spot sighed, draping himself across Race's lap. The boy yelped at the cold and random mer on his lap but Spot gave no shits. Most mers, Spot included, had no sense of personal space. In the ocean, friends often cuddled for warmth. They slept in dog piles after all. So when Race yelped, he just glared at him and shut his eyes. "'he was older. Typically the oldest is the leader but it was mah pod first. And 'he's old as hell and wise or some shit." 

Race tried his very best not to stare at the _gorgeous_ mer draped across his lap like a gift from God, themselves. "Warrior ain't the same age as ya?" 

"Far from it. Ya thought 'he was?" 

"Uhhh...yeah," Spot snorted, a loose grin spreading across his cheeks. It made Race want to kiss him. _Stop it._  He told himself. _Ya shamed Jack for loving a fish, ya ain't supposed to **also**  fall in love with one. _

So he forced himself to breathe and to talk. He was good at talking and strangely, Spot didn't seem to mind that day. Maybe it was because he was so lonely after three days but Spot didn't care. He let his mouth run and said what was on his mind. They talked about the pod, his life in the ocean, Race's life and the human world. "What is this...drag racing?" He asked, now fully on Race's lap. Sort of. He wasn't fully on Racer's lap as not to crush him, with his tail spread out. 

Race's eyes lit up, Spot liked it when they did. They reminded him of the ocean, deep and bright. "We humans got these machines - called cars." He started. 

"Like those...ships?" When they first came, the mers called ships 'wooden whales' which was hilarious. Oh, they knew the proper word but they didn't care. Although in private they called them ships, they just liked to fuck with humans. It was so fun. 

"Sorta. They just us places fast on land. And drag racin' is when ya drive really fast and very illegal." Race summed it up for as well as he managed. Since Spot didn't know what cars was or cared, nor did he get why it was illegal. 

"Illegal is against the law, right?" 

"Mhm,"

"Why?"

Race bit his lip and tilted his head back and forth, trying to gather his thoughts. "Uhhhhh.....cuz it's really fast and people bet on it??? I don't know and I didn't care. It was fun." 

"Like how War sank ships," Spot said it like it was the same thing. 

"Yeah??? Not really," Race said with a bit of a laugh. It made Spot smile although he immediately tried to shake it off. Why was he flushing whenever Racer smiled or laughed. Instead, he was supposed to be annoyed, not falling in....dare he say, love. Still, he didn't move, stayed right perched on his lap. They were face to face, close enough nose to nose. "So, Spotty, what about lovers?" 

"What about 'em?" 

"Well, have ya had any?" Race dared, pretty sure what he was doing might get his throat ripped out but he didn't care. He pressed on. 

"Well, what about ya?" 

"I asked first."

Spot growled in annoyance but he didn't rip out his throat. "Fine." he cleared his throat. "There haven't been...many. I's too busy with the pod. Wasn't datin' no one when I was...caught," And that was the truth. There hadn't been many, all males that wanted him to join _their_ pod and leave his. That's why it never lasted. That was Spot's guess, anyway. "Your turn." He swallowed. Why was he so worried about Race's answer. 

"Ohhh....I've dated every gay boy in mah school. Some lasted a week, others a month. I actually dated Jack, first time I meet 'em but we figured out quickly that we were better as friends." He shrugged, knowing that with Spot on his laps that he wasn't able to move much.

"And is there....anyone now?" Spot asked something glittered in his dark eyes. As if he cared, his cheeks were red so maybe he did. 

 "No...why do ya care?" Race asked. Spot blushed. 

"I don't-"

"Okay, let's _not_ dance around this. Ya care about me." 

"And if I do?" Spot said, his voice a little tentative as if he was scared of the answer. 

Race's mouth spread in a sly smile. "Maybe, I do too," 

"What are you goin' to do about it?" It sounded like a pop reference, even though it wasn't since he hadn't shown Spot the wonders of the internet. Yet. Had Spot closer or was that his imagination, Race wasn't sure because suddenly they were nose to nose, inches apart.

"This," He muttered in the shared air and pressed his lips against Spots. To his shock and absolute joy, Spot kissed him back. So he kept kissing him and after they got their air back, he did it again and again and again until both their lips were swollen and achy but _he - couldn't - stop._

~

The next morning, Spot returned to his small pod. Warrior and Davey weren't arguing anymore. In fact, Davey won the argument much to Warrior's grumbling. Jack would live to see another day and Davey could kiss him all he wanted. "What are you looking so happy about?" Davey swam close to him as he came back, a smile loose on his swollen lips. 

"None of yer business," Spot said with a little less of a bite than usual. But Warrior saw and was quiet because Warrior was listening. Waiting and listening closer and closer to make sure she was hearing it right. Her face grew from neutral to delight. 

"Oh, now what's up with you?" Davey asked when he saw the look on her face. 

"It's his song," She said, "Race's song is about Spot." She smiled big and wide, showing all of her teeth. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww, that was cute right? Two super cute chapters, that was fun. Nice even, right? Well, buckle the fuck up, sweethearts. We're going into some choppy waters! Better batter down the hatches. :)


	8. I don’t know how to deal with my feelings but for you, I will try.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warrior deals with her feelings and apparently all mers are diasters.   
> Warning, this gets a little bloody.

Warrior was a mess, this she knew. Not only was she _too angry_ but she had no idea how to properly deal with...feelings. Feelings like love, grief, protectiveness. It felt like her solution to everything was her claws ripping something apart and blood in the water. In her dreams, she mourned the normality of her childhood, how _easy_ it was. Now she was swimming through the carnage of _another_ ripped up shark, her scales dyed red from their usual teal, and the calm she felt during killing - it wasn’t there. She hissed, frustrated endlessly. She swam to this secluded tank so Davey wouldn’t look her in absolute horror and Spot wouldn’t ask questions - for her killing calm.

It may sound strange or even ridiculous to speak out loud but Warrior was growing more and more annoyed every day. Her sleep was plagued with more nightmares than usual, to the point where Warrior wondered it she _finally_ gone crazy. And then there was the root of all her current problems. Spades. Over the current moons, the night guard visited her regularly and they talked, many times but now there was a problem. Her heart was beating fast when she saw the outline of Spades, her cheeks turned pink whenever Spades smiled at her. Warrior knew what she was acting like.

A lovestruck idiot. When the human left, Warrior swam herself sick in circles, hissing and muttering to herself. Then the nightmares started. _What’s the big deal?_ You might ask. Davey and Spot don’t seem to have any issues in loving a human, why does Warrior? To answer your own question, I suggest you go back and read chapter two. Her entire life was spent hellbent on revenge, one she achieved greatly. And then there were the dreams.

In them, she was small again. Her hair was still long, her fangs were barely sharp. The ocean was dark, darker than it should have been as she swam around. “Mama???” She called, making distressed noises from the back of her throat. If another siren heard these noises, they would swim to her, quickly, she hadn’t made them since she was small. In the dreams, no one came. She swam, looking and searching. “Sisters???” She tried again, tears were welling up in her eyes, the current threatened to wipe them away.

There was no sound except for her in the dream, her terror growing with every tail flick. And then the dream twisted into a nightmare. It darkened, turning as black than the darkest trench with no light in sight, and _oh the smell_ . Rot and decaying bodies, blood so thick that with every inhale, Warrior swore she was tasting it, swallowing it and gagged. “Mama!” Her call out was more of a scream, her voice turning shrill. Mentally, she knew, as her shoulders tightened, as tried to swim away - reach the surface and break the dream. _Dream, who am I kiddin’? This is a fuckin’ nightmare._ Warrior thought to herself as her mind raced, mixed with terror.

She heard her before she saw her. She always did. “Little warrior…come here, sweet thing,” Her mother never spoke in that tone. - sweet and alluring but with a darker tone, reeling Warrior in. She sniffled and swam, looking for her Mama but she didn’t look right. No, no. Her eyes were cut out, her beautiful locks shorn and worst of all - worst of all, her tail was stripped of scales and bleeding.  She crooned a siren song but it didn’t work, they never did on sirens and Warrior screamed, too busy swimming away to even listen to it.

“Remember, Warrior!” Her mother’s voice was shrill, “ _Remember what they did!_ ” The voice chased her out of her dream, Warrior always woke up screaming and thrashing. In her sanctuary, alone, she breathed heavily and cried but with the little pod, Davey and Spot shook her awake, unsure what to do as she sobbed, curled up on the sand. They weren’t sure to help and as soon as she stopped crying, she went off and killed a shark. This was becoming a problem.

“Ya wanna fuck ‘er, right?” Spot asked, swimming through the carrion. She was sick to her stomach, not even hungry but Spot grabbed a fin and ripped into it. Despite the blood, her face was the brightest red in the room, even brighter than her scales

“I do not want to fuck ‘er!” she yelled back at him, her face flushed and her heart, damn her heart, was beating fast.

With his brows arched, Spot’s face screamed _oh really?_ “Bullshit. Ya like ‘er. Therefore ya want to bone ‘er.”

Warrior covered her face in her hands, “Liking ‘er and ‘boning’ are two very different things! Get yer head out of a thermal vent!” She cried, her voice going high. God, she didn’t want to think about…. _that_ just after a nightmare, when she and Spades weren’t anything. Her heart wanted to add a ‘yet’ but her brain crushed it.

“So ya don’t want to fuck ‘er?”

“I mean-”

“Exactly! Ya want to fuck ‘er!”

Warrior rubbed her face, groaning. “Spot, ya ain’t helpin’.” They were both far enough away from the shark now, close to the surface.

“What’s the issue, War?” Spot asked the jab in his voice vanished. Davey and he were worried, of course, they were. Five sharks were dead and the number was going. She even went after the manta ray before they held her back. Something was wrong. She was quiet for a long time before she spoke in a broken voice.

“I can’t like a human, Spotty, not after everything.”

He swam closer, close enough to touch. “Just give ‘er a chance, Spades is different.”

“I don’t want to waste mah time. What if ‘he doesn’t even like me?”

Again, Spot’s face was like he was staring at the camera in the office, another pop reference that he had no idea was about because he lived in the ocean and that meant no internet. But he held his tongue, not wanting to berate the obviously stressed siren. “Then do yer song thing. All of ‘em are hanging out ‘morrow, just sing a little and ya’ll know,”

Warrior slowly unwrapped herself from her panic, turning to look at the smaller mer. “That….that’s actually a good idea, Spotty,”

“Well, I ain’t stupid!” he huffed and whacked her tail. She laughed because it barely hurt. So she waited, waited for all of their humans to gather. Jack, Racetrack, and Spades all sat by the tank’s edge, talking and laughing with each other. Nearby, floating was Davey and Spot. From below, Warrior watched for a little bit. They seemed happy although Jack smiling at Davey set her teeth on edge but she wasn’t here to ruin Davey’s day.

When she felt ready, she slowly swam to the surface and emerged. Spades eyes light up but before she could open her mouth, Warrior started singing. _Oh…._ Oh, she’d forgotten how _good_ it felt to sing and unspool a song and lure sailors to their death. With great pleasure, she sang through the songs, gong through Races and Jack's first. Meanwhile, the two other mers were scrambling to their humans. “No, no!!” Davey pulled himself on Jack’s lap to keep him in place, his brown eyes glazed over. “Nope!!”

“Hey...Spotty,” Race mumbled as Spot pulled himself on his lap, securing his dumbass human in place.

“What, Racer?” He grumbled even if this was _his_ idea.

“I might leave ya for ‘er.” And Race was gay as fuck, Spot was not having it.

“ _No._ Ya ain’t leavin’ me, dumbass,” Then he turned to the overjoyed Warrior. “Hurry up!”

“Wait! This was YOUR idea????” Davey yelled, suddenly pissed.

“Shut it!” He hissed as there was a splash, Spades was in the water, swimming towards the singing siren but then - Warrior stopped singing, her face as red as a cuttlefish. Then she vanished, disappearing under the water and breaking her own spell. The humans came out of their daze and shook it off.

“Cold!” Spades yelled, scrambling to climb out, “Jeeesus, that’s cold!!”

“What...what happened?” Jack asked, rubbing his head. “‘Ey baby,” he smiled at Davey. His distressed boyfriend smiled back. 

Race seemed to have some memory of what he said. “Nope! Nope, not leavin’ ya!” He hugged Spot. “I’m sorry I even said that, ya oversized goldfish!”

Then Davey turned to Spot. “Spot Conlon, what the FUCK-” And Spot swallowed hard, knowing he was in for an earful. Still, a little piece of him was worried about Warrior who vanished for a long time but she appeared soon enough, a conch shell in hand. Spades was gone, having rushed to change out of her soaked clothes. Davey turned to her, ready to shout. "Warrior, what the FUCK-" He started but Warrior wasn't paying attention to the smaller mer. Instead, she placed the conch shell where Spades was sitting before diving back down in the water. "Hey!! Don't swim away from me!!" Davey yelled after her. 

The siren kept coming back, bring back shells and fish only to leave them in a small pile before swimming back to get more....Spot had a feeling that they were gifts. Even after Spades came back. "Are these for me??" She asked the flushed siren, Warrior mumbled an answer and swam away to get something else. 

"Okaaaaaay," Race announced to the group. "I think it's time we moved to let's say....the other side of the aquarium." Both Spot and Davey nodded and slipped back in the water. All three humans stood at first. "Nu-uh! Ya get to stay and deal with....this." Race gestured to the pile of gifts (?) and winked at Spades. "Have fun~" Then they left and Spades waited. Slowly, she picked up each gift - mostly the shells and not the dying fish - and looked them over. Some shells were bright blue, red, and pink. Other rocks were dark onyx and seemed to match Spade's hair or eyes, which was amazing. 

Warrior emerged with another fish in her mouth and spat it out on the growing pile. "These are amazing," Spades said, lifting her favorite shell. The siren flushed and mumbled. "I don't speak gibberish,"

"I'm not done yet," she said firmly. "I should have started giving ya gifts ages ago-"

"All of this is for me?" Spades blushed, the lighting not helping to hide it at all. Warrior nodded which only made it worse. "Ya don't have to-" She started.

"It's a tradition!" The siren protested, her eyes wide with shock at the very idea of it. Gift giving was a big part of courtship and wasn't supposed to be taken lightly. "Unless..." the siren frowned, seeming to deflate just a little. "Unless ya don't want 'em." 

"No, no!!!" Spades said quickly, panicking. _Oh shit, I made her sad - fuuuuck_. "I just don't want ya to waste the effort," 

"It's no trouble," The siren tilted her head with a slight frown on her face. 

"Alright, alright....uh, can ya stop bringing the fish? They're dying." The fish would flop and gulp and then die. It was sort of creepy. 

"Then ya can eat 'em!" Warrior beamed. "None of 'em are poisonous and I'm sure they'd make a really nice meal!" She smiled nice and wide, showing all her teeth. It was strangely cute. _Okay. So you do like a fish._  Spades thought to herself. 

"Okay, fine. But no more! Ya spent enough time findin' me gifts," Warrior nodded happily, glad that Spades wanted her gifts, fish and all. She was adorable when she was happy, swimming close to the edge of her tank, her cheeks flushed. "So...why are ya even givin' me gifts?" Spades asked, watching the siren. Again, the siren blushed and mumbled. "I still don't know gibberish," Spades rested her head in her palms. 

"I'll explain in a minute, promise." Warrior stumbled out, her face red and tucking a lock of hair behind her webbed ear. "Just let me sing this song," 

"Am I going to drop in the ocean so ya can eat me?"

"Nope," 

"Promise?" She teased with a smirk. 

Warrior sighed. "Promise. Now hush!" She scolded the human and swam back just a little bit. Then she opened her mouth and sang. It was unlike the luring song, as it was in the sirens mother tongue. A language lost to not only the grind of time but the slow decline in the sirens population. A language Warrior thought she might have forgotten but she remembered the words. How could she? Mama always said this would be the most _important_  song they'd ever sing. The courting song, an old tradition that no one heard in many, many years. Far enough away, Spot and Davey heard it and was shocked, as they did not know the meaning but they _knew_. Deep down, they knew. 

Spades sat back and watched, her face flushed for reasons even she didn't know. She had no idea what Warrior was saying in the song but oh, it was so sweet and pretty that she couldn't help but smile at the beautiful siren.When Warrior finished and swam closer, as red as red can be, she clapped. "That was beautiful!" She exclaimed. 

"Thank you," Warrior rubbed her cheeks. "I'm glad ya liked it..." 

"What were ya sayin'?"

Again Warrior mumbled, flustered red. Spades sighed just slightly. "War, I-" 

"It's the courting song!" Warrior confessed. "Sirens sing it when they want to court another siren but I don't want to court another siren - I want to court ya!" Oh, her cheeks were so red and why did she say stuff like this? She wanted to grab the words back but they were out there. She'd never be able to backpedal well enough to do damage control. 

"Courting...that's like datin', right?" Spades asked. Both of them were so red. Warrior nodded. 

"Ya can always say no -"

"Who said I wanted to say no?" Spades frowned. Internally she was running a mile a minute. _HOLY SHIT SHE WANTS TO DATE ME. THIS HOT LADY WANTS TO DATE ME- HOLY FUCK. DON'T MESS THIS UP SPADES, HOLY SHIT._

Warrior's eyes were wide with wonder and hope. She felt hope for the first time in a long time. "Ya want to court me, Spades?" She asked, sounding nice and innocent like she was just a teenage girl in love and not a siren that spent most of her life hunting down humans.

And that's where Spades charm died where she talked without a filter for once. "Oh mah god - are ya kidding??? Of course, I do! Ya's so cute and hot and holy shit- yes!" She clamped a hand over her mouth before she embarrassed herself further. Warrior was starstruck, her eyes so wide and was those tears? Oh shit, Spades hoped she wasn't going to cry but instead the siren swam closer and pulled herself on Spades' lap, shifting her weight here and there so not to crush the poor lesbian. 

"Can I kiss ya?" The siren asked, her cheeks flushed. 

"Yes," Spades breathed and the siren pressed her mouth against hers. And they kissed and kissed and kissed, Warrior wrapping her arms around Spades' neck and stayed as they lost each other in the others lips. 

~

When Warrior fell asleep that night, she felt herself slip into a familiar dream. Her nightmare but this one was different. Yes, it was still dark and scary but Warrior was her normal size, she was not a small siren. She swam, knowing the way well. "Little warrior…come here, sweet thing,” She heard her mother croon, calling for her in the dark. 

"Coming, Mama," She swam closer and yes, she saw the terror of her mothers corpse, her sisters too. Looked at them with sadness and horror but she did not swim away. They were not going to chase her away this time. 

"Remember, Warrior!” Mama bellowed, her voice filled with such rage, " _Remember what they did!_ ” She screamed, her voice was nails against a chalkboard but Warrior did not swim away, did not shrink back in terror. She looked upon her mother with such sadness and grief. 

"I do remember, Mama," She said, her voice weighed with her grief. "But if all I do is remember, how shall I live?" She swam closer to her Mama and planted a kiss on her great forehead. "I shall never forget but I must let ya go." Then she turned and swam towards the surface where the water lightened and became more and more clear. Mama and her sisters did not chase her and she broke through to find Spades sitting in a rowboat, waiting for her. 

"Ya're late," She teased with a smile. Warrior laughed, carefully climbing into the boat so that it wouldn't tip over. 

"Who are ya kiddin'? We'se got all the time in the world." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I don’t own Spades. She belongs to StariNights or @allthenewsiesaregay-bitch on tumblr. Check her out, she’s cool.  
> You came for angst and you got fluff. I'm not good at the whole angst train.


	9. The Wheelchair Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In our latest addition, Spot has gone missing. Spades is pretty sure she knows where he went.  
> -  
> For the record, Spades is N O T mine. She belongs to StariNights or @allthenewsiesaregay-bitch on tumblr. She’s amazing, go check her out.

Most mers were content to never spend a day on land in their life. The mers that we seem to keep our eyes on, the three that were caught, are very similar. If given the choice, they’d stay in their tanks unless they were being released. That seemed to be the shared agreement until one day, Spot went missing. You might say couldn’t he be hiding? As the author, I can state that you are wrong. Spot was nowhere to be found. Warrior and Davey checked. He wasn’t in the sanctuary, in the tropic waters, or any other tank that simulated different regions of the ocean. “Where is he??!!” The distressed siren wailed, practically swimming herself in circles. Spades watched from the edge of the tank, exchanging words with a very concerned Davey.

“He’s gone, he is literally gone - how is this even possible-” Words fell out of Davey’s mouth quicker than normal and they all seemed to jumble together. 

“Davey, calm down- it’s not like someone stole ‘im….oh, shit.” Spades muttered to herself and rubbed her temples. “Hey, Dave, did Racer visit last night?” She sure hoped that the answer was no but then Davey thought it over and nodded. 

“Yeah, he did. I went to bed shortly after he arrived but how does that help - oh.” It hit Davey shortly after saying it. He looked back at the still distressed siren then back at that distressed siren’s girlfriend. “You don’t think….you don’t think Race….” his voice dropped to a whisper, “stole Spot, right?” 

“Only one way to find out before someone loses ‘eir job,” Spades whispered back before straightening up. “Hey, Babe!” she called to Warrior, “C’mere,” The distressed siren swam over, Davey muttered that he was going to check the other tanks again and swam away. Warrior still looked very distressed, her dark eyes wide with concern and her claws were out but she had that pinched face you got when you worried over your test scores of the SATs. “Hey babe, I think I know where Spot is, just calm down, okay?” 

Her siren took a shaky breath, the gills on her neck expanding slightly and she nodded. “Okay.” Spades helped pulled her up so that they shared a quick kiss before Warrior sank back in the water, the siren watching her human stand up and walk out of the aquarium. Spades waved her badge and clocked out, heading towards the apartment that Jack and Racetrack shared, hoping that she was right. If she wasn't….well, something worse was happening to Spot - something involving dark rooms, scalpels, and screams. She hurried at the very thought. 

Her fists pounded on the door, although it was by far not the loudest noise. Even with the solid door, she could hear the arguing from inside followed by the loud stomps, and the door being opened but not unchained. “What?!” Jack Kelly hissed, looking more pissed than a spitting cat but his face softened slightly when he saw it was Spades. “Hey, Spades, what’s up?” He said too casually. 

“Let me in, Jack,” From where she was standing, she heard the splashes of water and hissing, Race’s hushed whispers followed by more hissing. 

Jack sighed followed by him shutting the door and unlocking the chain, then opening for it. “He’s an idiot, I know but don’t kill him,” He stepped aside and she made a beeline to the bathroom. The door was opened, revealing a pissed tiger shark mer sulking in an old fashion clawfoot bathtub, water splattered here and there with towels trying to soak it up. Race was leaning against the tub, his clothes and blond curls were soaked with, guess again, water but despite this, he was grinning like an idiot. 

“Racetrack Higgins,” She summoned her best mother voice, she used it when she used to scold Romeo. “What the absolute fuck?”

“Hey, Spades,” Both human and mer greeted her. Spot looked up, then sunk deeper in the water making it slosh out of the tub. Race looked up at her, still grinning like an idiot. 

“Race,  explain yerself .” 

He sat up straighter, his headlining up with the curve of the tub. “I just wanted to show ‘im the apartment, ‘e kept askin’ about it,” 

“Did not,” Spot popped out and glared at his boyfriend.

 Race argued back. “Did too!”

“How did ya even get ‘im outta of the aquarium??” Spades asked, walking around and peered in the bathtub, being careful not to slip. Spot bristled his fins and sunk lower into the tub again, it was a decent size - most of the mer fit but a good section of his tail was sticking out, dripping water on towels. 

Race grinned like the devil he was, “Wheelchair. And scarves, a lot of scarves.” 

Spades, against her better judgment, took note of that in case she ever needed to do that with Warrior. “Who got you a wheelchair?” 

“Albert, I don’t ask why ‘e had one and ‘e didn’t ask why I needed one.” They left that at that, instead of moving on to the main issue.

 “Okay, so, Race. Ya realize ya stole a mer, right? And that the aquarium only gots three? They’se gonna notice.” 

"Yeah, I’se know.” Spades facepalmed and she could hear Jack’s sigh from the bathroom doorway. “I’mma gunna return him tonight,” 

“On my shift?” 

“Uh huh.” 

“How??” 

“Wheelchair.” 

“Good, Jesus,” Spot muttered from his tub. All the humans perked up and exchanged looks. Sure, they heard Spot mutter about hail Zeus a couple of time but it puzzled them. There was no way in hell that Christianity spread to the ocean...right? 

Jack tried first. “Hey, Spot, why do you say that?” 

“Say what?” 

“Jesus,” 

Spot huffed, ruffling his fins as he tried again to get comfortable in this forsaken tub. The porcelain wasn’t bad but the sound his claws made against it - agony. “It’s just some phrase ya humans say all the time. I picked it up after a couple of centuries.” They all sighed with relief and nodded. 

“Gotcha,” 

“Great,” 

“Phew,” 

Spot watched their reactions and cared less. “How much longer till I can leave?” 

Race faked hurt, pouting a little and scrunching up his forehead, “Ya don’t like our bathroom, Spotty?” His only response was a splash of water from Spot, huffing indignantly.  

"How much longer?" 

Jack left and came back. "It's 6 am right now...we're returning ya next time Spades goes on shift....I'd say what, 16 hours??" 

Spot made a face. "I'll try and pull some strings for an earlier shift," Spades reassured him. 

"How early??"

"Like six. then you'll only be here for what..."

"Do I look good at math???" 

Race whipped out his phone and did the math with a desperately needed calculator. "Ten hours! Is that better, amore mio?" 

The blushing mer grumbled but nodded, "Fine," 

"I have to go....get a shift at seven," Spades sighed. "Call me around sixty thirty, see ya," Spades waved as she walked out of the apartment. 

Then Jack slowly started backing out of the bathroom. "I should probably go check on Davey...and try and draw Warrior," 

"Don't die!" Both cheered as Jack gathered his art supplies and left. Race got up and started gathering the soaked towels. The floor was still slick but he laid down more towels. Soon they'd run out so he made a trip to the basement and threw them in the shared dryer before returning back to his grumpy overgrown goldfish. "Sit tight, Spotty!" he cheered as he started putting something together in the kitchen. 

"Not like I can go anywhere!" Race grinned as he set a little something that included a tray and a laptop. He was really glad that Katherine, for whatever reason, gave him a waterproof laptop. It was the weirdest exchange of his goddamn life but we don't have time to unpack that. Instead, he walked into the waterlogged bathroom carrying his laptop/tray with Netflix blazing on the screen. "What's that??" Spot peaked out of the water and stared. 

"This, this is goin' to be the next ten hours of our lives." Race said as he put the tray on the nearby sink, stripped down to his swimmer's trunks, grabbed the tray and shimmed his way in the tank, Spot moving to make room for him as Race work to resting the tray to the _right_ spot (ha) so that it didn't fall into the water. 

Spot curled around his boyfriend, peeking over his shoulder. He watched Racer scroll through many strange things before finally settling on something that read "John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City". And then, they _watched_. "What's a nazi?" he asked when it came up how hen young John was over there on the bench that he was similar to a nazi. 

"Assholes." 

"Okay." That's how it went, every time Spot didn't understand something, he whispered it to Race, who then paused the comedy routine and explain the thing. Then they'd watch some more. By the end of the ten hours, with some needed breaks for Race, they watched all three of John Mulaney's comedy routines with explanations and all ("What's a horse?" "uhhhh it's a four-legged thing" "What's a hospital" "it's where we go when we're hurt" "Why is a horse in a hospital" "I really don't know"). After that, they watched whatever show Race had in his list that Spot pointed out. That composed mostly of Disney movies, lots of Disney movies and Spot watched every single one. Race's only complaint was whenever he tried to sing with the songs, Spot elbowed him. 

"Hey!"

"Shut it." 

"But Spotty!!!"

"Hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss" Same, Spotty, Same. 

 Sadly, all things come to the end. Somewhere deep in the apartment, Race's went off. "Oh- shit." Race muttered as he carefully and quickly as he could, lifted the tray, put it on the sink, then scrambled out of the tub, dripping water as he went. Spot turned and narrowed his eyes at his disappearing boyfriend. "Hello?"

"Hey Race, get movin'," Spades answered, the soft sounds of a siren on her lap was in the background. "Text me when ya need to get in." 

"Will do, thanks Spades!"

"Ya owe me one, Higgins," 

"Yeah, yeah," Race hung up and grabbed some clothes and some towels. He walked back into the bathroom where Spot was trying to still watch the playing movie on the tray. Race had the unfortantly to turn it off and before Spot hissed at him, Race said "Alright, mr. grumpy gills! It's time to leave!"

"Really??" Spot didn't sound as enthusiastic as he was before but he helped Race drain the tub and slowly but surely dry off as much as they could of the dripping mer. After a couple futile attemped, Race got the wheelchair and Spot was heaved into it and covered in blankets, wrapped up so that no one would notice his tail, his gills, or his webbed ears. Sungalsses were over his eyes for good measure. 

"Ready?" Race asked as he wheeled him out of the apartment, heading towards the elevator. He hoped to whatever god was out there that his neightbors would be out or in bed and everybody in the city would walk by them and not ask questions about Spot. 

"Ready." And so began the journey back to the aquarium. Race forced himself to look casual and not walk too fast. Spot looked around, keeping as still as he could, while keeping his mouth shut. After what felt like an eternity, they arrived at the backdoor of the aquarium and Race texted Spades. There was a loud _bzzzzzzzzzzz_  as the doors clicked open and Race wheeled in his boyfriend, the doors shutting firmly behind them. Without asking, Spot shook off the sunglasses and wiggled in an effort to get off all the heavy blankets and free himself, forcing Race to be careful. 

"Hey," Spades walked up to them as they arrived at the mers favorite tank. In it, Warrior and Davey swam, waiting and their eyes brightened at the sight of Spot in a wheelchair. 

"Spot!!!" Warrior cried, swimming to the edge and pulling herself out. "Yer okay!!!"

"Of course I'm okay," Spot slide out of the wheelchair and clambered quickly in the water, Warrior followed and grabbed him tightly, hugging him. "War, War - oh god, yer suffocating me." 

"Just so glad, yer okay." 

"Yeah, yeah," She swam over and went cuddling up to her human. Spades accepted this, quite content with a siren snuggling her as long as she didn't crush her bones.  

"I'm also glad you're okay," 

"Thanks, Dave," and the night settled down. For the most part, the mers relaxed with two out of the three humans and Spot found himself on Race's lap again. 

"Not a bad day, am I right?" Race smiled down at the tiger shark on his lap. Spot's eyes were half open, he could see just a strip of those hard, dark eyes. Gorgeous. 

"It wasn't...completely awful." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My writers' block was broken by the idea of Race running around with a distressed Spot in a wheelchair. And somehow, it turned into Spot being kidnapped and stuck in a tub. Inspiration is so weird. And yeah, the time might not add up right in this chapter, IDFK man.


	10. Keep Mermaids Away From SnapChat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crutchie makes an entrance! Finally!!!!
> 
> I don’t own Spades OR Spoons, they belong to StariNight or @allthenewsiesaregay-Bitch on tumblr. Go check her out!

Jack Kelly lamented the fact that Warrior hated him. If she was a normal person, it might not bother him but no. Warrior’s hatred of him was making it hard to get his paycheck - now that bothered him. Pulitzer was docking his pay since Jack wasn’t able to produce anything of ‘the female’ as Pulitzer called her. This lead one thing to another and he was back at Spades. “Hey, Spades, how ya doin’?” He asked as he joined the night guard on her rounds.

“Pretty okay, what about ya?”

“Well, here’s the thing. Ya know how Warrior hates me?”

How could anyone forget about Warrior’s hatred for the short artist? There were some days that her girlfriend spent hours ranting about Jack. Other times, she prevented War from eating Jack all together in two ways. One was picking the siren up - that just lead to Warrior.exe shutting down and staring at her girlfriend in awe and the second was sitting on the sirens lap. “It’s pretty hard to forget about it, Jack,”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I know - so uh….is there anyway ya can send me any pictures of ‘er on yer phone?” Jack wondered why he didn't think of it sooner. The underwater camera was a good idea but with Spades, Warrior might be sitting still and be _willing_ to get good quality pictures of herself. Jack could draw from them with the right colors and never have to get close to Warrior’s jaws of death. It was genius.

“Sure. Just gotta take some of ‘er.”

“Thanks, Spades, yer a’ lifesaver,”

Spades found herself really glad to Katherine Pulitzer randomly gave out waterproof technology to stick a middle finger to her dad. It really helped when your girlfriend, who was wet all the time - ignore the blushing author and move on - grabbed your phone at times. She remembered when her phone _wasn’t_ waterproof. She’d been complaining about wanting pictures of the coral for a moodboard, Warrior listening eagerly despite her confusion. “I wish I could just get the pictures,” She flashed the siren her camera.

“Oh! Let me see!” Warrior grabbed her phone and before Spades protested, she dived down toward to the coral and took a couple pictures. She came up, beaming. “Here!”

“Darlin’ noooo…” Spades grabbed a towel and took her water damaged phone.

Warrior tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, baby,” Spades said, not wanting to explain that phones and water don't mix. Why didn’t she get shocked? She wondered but she kept her mouth shut. “Thanks, baby,” Warrior’s smile was just too good to ruin.

The very next day, Katherine Pulitzer walked up to her when she was checking in. The owner’s daughter, Katherine could buy fancy brands but she was wearing tattered jeans and a purple hoodie. “So I heard your phone got dunked by Warrior,” she said, her hands in her pockets.

Spades gave her an odd look, wondering how the hell Katherine found out about her phone breaking. “Ya really ‘ave eyes every’ere, don’t ya?”

Katherine smiled. “Anyway,” she started, avoiding Spades question, and pulled out a new phone with a case and everything. “Thought you might want this.” She handed it to Spades. “Enjoy!” she said and left, leaving Spades baffled and blinking. Spades stuffed in her pocket, like she was going to turn down a gift like this.

Now, she was sitting with a couple towels and Warrior swimming around. When the siren came to sit next to her, Spades handed her a towel, the siren drying herself as best as possible while Spades opened her SnapChat, scrolling through the filters. “Sweetie,” She said, getting Warrior’s attention. “C’mere,”

“Why?”

“Trust me, baby,” So Warrior leaned over and Spades positioned herself in the camera, Warrior’s dark eyes grew big, bigger than most humans did because of her slitted pupils as she saw that in the magic box, Spades and her were wearing flower crowns. Spades snapped the picture and quickly saved it, smiling as she did.

“How did ya do that???”

“It’s just a filter, baby, let me show ya,” Spades grinned as they tried every single filter imaginable. From flower crowns to puppy dogs, to face swap - that one really freaked Warrior out,

“Like a sesya,” The siren shuttered, rubbing her paled cheeks. As if she had to reassure himself that her face was still there, still her own.

“A Sesya?”

“ ‘Face stealer’ in yer tongue.  If ya cross one, they steal yer face. Most of ‘em hide in the deep trenches, thankfully,” Warrior shuttered one last before moving on, trying to distract herself from the rising tales in her memory. “What about ‘his one?” So they resumed trying more filters, taking more pictures. Spades was able to get a couple for Jack. These had Warrior’s face, most of her scars, and plenty of her tail.

“Ya don’t mind?” She asked, taking the pictures.

“Not really.” said the relaxing siren draped out on the edge of the tank, an easy roll back in the sea. She shut her eyes and let herself go limp, almost napping as Spades got the pictures. Then she sent them to Jack before coaxing Warrior awake with her magic mirror. “‘here ya goin’?” Spades brushed her pants off as she got up.

“Just going to grab some snacks. I think ya gonna like ‘em,” She smiled at her reassuringly before walking away, leaving the huffy siren behind her.

Warrior waited then rolled on her stomach and did something that she knew she probably wasn’t supposed to do, she picked up Spades phone, still opened on SnapChat but without filters. Her own face stared at back at her, Warrior narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the mirror only for it copy her. It amused her immensely. She softened her face and batted her eyelashes before doing something she’d watched Spades do. Warrior posted a picture.

Spades returned and Warrior abandoned the phone in exchange for potato chips. Spades scrolled through her buzzing phone as messages came in. It was a second before she found the photo. It was gorgeous and Spades was definitely going to save but there was no filter - it was just Warrior with her cool scales and slitted eyes. “Oh, shit,” she muttered as she popped in and added a caption.

Lol, my girlfriend is trying out a new filter! “What’s wrong?” Warrior asked, perking up and watching her.

“Darlin, please don’t do this again,” She gestured to the picture. “

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely, frowning. She didn’t think she was doing anything wrong.

“It’s fine,  just don’t do it again,” The siren nodded, Spades planting a reassuring kiss on her cheek, hoping that adding the caption would fix the problem.

Of course it didn’t. Three hours after the picture was posted, Spades’s messages were filled with asks of where Warrior got the filter and how they could get a hold of it. That’s why she was at Jack and Race’s apartment, pacing instead of curled up sleeping. “Jack, this is all yer fault,” Spades hissed as she paced the floor of the apartment. Race watched her, half amused at the kitchen counter.

“For once it’s not mine,” He mused, far too pleased with the mess.

“Shut up, Racer,” She snapped, way too worried and angry to deal with his shit right now. She thanked the lord when he kept his mouth shut, sipping a glass of orange juice.

“I don’t see how ‘his is mah fault, yer girlfriend posted the picture!” Jack huffed, rolling his right shoulder than crossing his arms. He’d been painting, his smock on. If Spades just glanced into his studio, she would see the big painting of Warrior he was working on, nice canvas and all of his best paints but a painting wasn’t going to fix the mess they were in.

“Yeah, sure, but ya gotta help me fix this!” her voice was desperate, her accent getting thicker. “If people find out about me and Warrior...all of us could go down. Do ya wanna lose Davey?” All three of them halted and thought. “Are ya goin’ help me or not?”

“I’mma gunna help ya, Spades, I’d tell ya that five minutes ago if ya stopped yellin’.” Jack untied his smock and left it on a chair. “How did ya get some of the messages to stop?” He asked, thinking.

“I said it was a’ custom filter. That can’t be hard to make, right?” Spades said hopefully.

“Do ya know how to make a’ custom filter? Cuz I don’t,” Race spoke up, setting his glass on the counter.

“No,” said Spades only to be followed by Jack’s “nope”.

“So none of us can make a’ filter.” Race amended.

“Yeah but I’se know someone who can,” Jack walked back in his studio and got his phone out, coming back to the others as he opened his contacts and found the one he needed. A quick tap and he put it on speaker. Then they waited.

“Jack?” came a voice thick with a New York accent. Race perked up, a grin spreading across his lips and he nudged Spades like ‘watch this’ and Spades looked at the energetic boy like ‘????’.

“Hey, Crutchie!” Jack cheered, a smile spreading across his cheeks.

On the other end, there was a meow and Crutchie sighed. Spades could feel that this Crutchie was staring up at the heavens. It was just a gut feeling. “Jack, what did ya do now?”

“Hey! I didn’t do nothin’!” Jack protested.

“Just get to the point, Jack,” There was another meow followed by purring.

Jack hesitated before saying it. “I need ya to make a SnapChat filter.”

“Mhm...head on over. Give me the details ‘here.” Jack looked at the two and nodded, they went after their stuff, gathering all they might need.

“Thanks, Crutchie!” Jack sang, grinning like and idiot.

“Thank me later,” said Crutchie before the line went dead. Jack popped his phone in his pocket before grabbing a jacket and they all headed out of the door, Jack leading the way to Crutchie’s apartment.

“Who’se Crutchie?” Spades asked as they walked down the city blocks, merging with the crowds easily.

“Jack’s ex!” Race exclaimed, grinning as Jack’s cheeks reddenedM

“Shut up, Racer,” He muttered as Race stuck his tongue out at him in childish glee. “But yeah, he’se mah ex. Crutchie’s wicked good with tech,  a filter’se probably easy for him.”

“What went sore?” Spades inquired, wanting the tea to be spilled.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Nothin’. We realized we’d be better friends.” Then he said nothing more as they found the apartment building and buzzed in on the intercom. “Hey, Crutchie! It’se us!”

The intercom clicked and hissed, Crutchie’s voice sputtered between it. “Come on up.” And so they did, riding the elevator and right up to Crutchie’s door. They knocked and the door opened. A calico cat sleep between the legs of a young blond with a nice face. The first thing anyone noticed was the crutch tucked under his left arm. “Hey, Jack. Hey, Race. Hey, random stranger. Come on in.” He turned and walked his way back in his apartment, the crutch making a steady thump against the floorboards.

“Hey, Crutchie,” Jack crouched down and pet the cat, she was already headbutting his leg. “Hiya, Smalls,” he said in a baby voice, softly stroking her back.

“Come on, Jack, you can pet her in the living room,” Crutchie moved to the living room and settled on the couch, popping up his bad leg up on the coffee table. Jack rolled his eyes and picked up Smalls and the group moved in the living room - it was slightly clean but computers were here and there, tech scattered half assembled on a work table in the corner. “So. Who’se ya?” He asked Spades.

“I’m Spades, I’ need the filter.”

Crutchie smiled. “So yer Spades. Jack’s told me about ya.”     Spades gave Jack a look and he shrugged before going back to petting Smalls. “It was an accident, don’t blame ‘im. So what’se ‘he crisis?”

Spades walked over, opening her phone and showed him the picture. “I’mma sure ‘e’s told ya about Warrior? Well ‘he posted this picture and I’ need a’ filter so people don’t know ‘he’s a siren.”

Crutchie studied the picture, narrowing his eyes at Warrior’s scales and slitted eyes. “Can ya send me ‘his?”

“Yeah,” He gave her his phone number and Spades sent the picture his way.

After studying the picture on his phone for a couple of minutes, he asked “SnapChat, right?” Spades nodded as Smalls brushed against her, looking up at the new human.

“No, noooo, Smallls,” Race whined, reaching for the cat, “C’mere,”

“I’ can do it. Might take….three hours? Maybe four.” A wave of relief crashed over Spades. “I’ll text ya when it’s up.”

“Thank ya. Thank ya so much.”  

Jack popped up from the floor, Racer still playing with Smalls, “‘Hat do I’ ow ya, Crutchie?” He brought out his wallet and Spades gave him a look - if anyone was going to pay the blond, it was going to be her but Crutchie rolled his eyes.

“Jack, ‘ust take me out to Jacobi’s for dinner.”

“Ya sure?”

“Yer my best pal. I ain’t takin’ yer money,” Crutchie grabbed his crutch and carefully climbed to his feet. He walked over to his big computer and sat down, turning it on with a quick tap of it’s button.

“Thanks, Crutchie,” Spades said, getting to her feet.

 Crutchie opened up a program, Smalls jumping up on his lap.“No problem. Just ‘ake sure ‘he don’t do this again,”

  “I will.” She said as they shuffled to the door.

 “See ya, Crutch!” Race called.

  “Bye, Racetrack,” Then the door swung shut behind them.

They walked down the stairs, leaving and walking down the street. They didn’t go back to one of each other’s apartment’s, instead heading to Jacobi’s. Spades was starving and tired but she knew she wasn’t sleeping until Crutchie text her the ‘it’s done’ and Jack & Race were going to suffer with her. “I’se need a drink,” She huffed, leaning against cushions of the booth.

“Too bad we can’t drink,” Race rolled his eyes and they ordered sodas instead. The hours between meeting Crutchie and the text were filled with soft drinks, junk food, and a grumbling old man saying that they were ‘chasing away good business’. “It’s 4 in the morning, Jacobi, ain’t nobody at 4 am ‘good business’” Race told him, sipping his soda. The man shook his head and headed back in the kitchen. Conversation was light and humorous but they were all tired and waiting. Then it happened, the little ding from Spades’ phone. They all stopped and stared.

“Well? Open it!” Jack told her, nudging her side.

“Shut up, I am!” She huffed, unlocking her phone to see the short little text. “It’s done.” She read out loud before switching to SnapChat to check out the new filter. It took just a bit of digging but they found it. A quick click and there was scales scattering across her cheeks, webbed ears, and slitted pupils. Jack and her gaped at it, astonished.

“Ey! Let me see!” Spades passed Racer her phone and it was his turn to gape at it. “Damn, Crutchie, that’s nice,” he muttered under his breath and passed Spades her phone. “So, problem solved! We can all go home!” he cheered, all of them tired. In the end, they split the check and Spades bid them adieu, walking to her apartment without an incident.

When she got home, she really just wanted to curl up and sleep. It had been a stressful couple of hours and even though tomorrow was her night off, she had errands to run and rent to pay. Instead, she walked in to see her roomate sitting in a chair like a pissed off parent. “Do ya have any idea what time it is?” Spoons asked, glowering at her.

“It’s four in the fuckin’ mornin’, Spoons, do we really have to do ‘his?” Spades asked, taking off her coat and shoes.

“Were ya goin’ to tell me about yer girlfriend?” Now that made her look up at her roommate who was glaring at her with her dark curls and brown eyes. “When did ya even get a girlfriend?!”

Spades rubbed the back of her neck. “We’se dating for a month now,” She said truthfully before teasing. “And I didn’t tell ya cuz yer awful.”

Spoons could never stay angry for long, her anger deflating after a second. “So where did ya meet ‘er?”

“The aquarium.” Spades moved towards her room, wanting to curl up in bed but Spoons kept pestering her. Internally, Spades was freaking out, Come on, just let it fucking go, Spoons…. It wasn’t like she could tell her roommate she was dating the siren at the aquarium.

“Where ya goin’ to introduce ‘er to the others?”

“I was getting to it.”

“Oh!” Spoons exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands. “Ya can bring ‘er to Friday’s get together!”

Maybe Spades was sleep deprived, maybe she was just stupid. She went over this moment a lot in the next couple of days because like an absolute idiot, Spades said “Yeah, sure,” Before collapsing in her bed and start snoring. It was only when she woke up and started feeling normal again, did she realize her mistake.

She just agreed to bring her girlfriend to Friday get together. Her girlfriend - the siren. “Oh, fuck.” She muttered and rushed to grab her laptop to begin research how the fuck she’d manage to get this mess fixed. Sure, she was out of the frying pan but now she was in the fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Writer’s block hit me in the stomach plus I’m working on others and now I think I’m sick, my throat’s all red and raw - it’s just the worst but now we got this! Next chapter will be up soon because it’s already written since I’ve been sitting on this idea for like a month? Long time. It may even be up today.


	11. Google, how do I grow my girlfriend legs?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own Spades or Spoons, they belong to @allthenewsiesaregay-bitch or StariNight, go check her out.

It was strange to see Spades panic. Spades was always calm and acting like she was cool - for the most part she _was_ pretty cool but now she was pacing across the floor and muttering to herself. Warrior tried to keep up with her, swimming back and forth easily, trying to catch her attention. Her fins flare out in frustration as Spades kept on pacing. In the end, she pulled herself up on the edge of the tank, dragging most of her tail with her but some was stubbornly still in the water.

“Spades!” She called, fidgeting and wiggling to get comfortable. Her girlfriend didn’t notice her and kept walking right back her. This happened two more times before Warrior rolled her eyes and let the song unspool from her throat. She drew it out slowly, coaxing Spades to sit on her lap, making her sit still as Warrior wrapped around her. After a month of dating, Warrior figured out how to get comfortable with the human on her lap.

When everything was perfect, she killed the song, and Spades awoke. She shook her head and looked around.“Warrior! Jesus, what was that for??”

The siren rolled her eyes.“Ya were worrying too much.” said the siren with a roll of her eyes. Spades didn’t protest to being on her girlfriend’s lap even if it was wet and sticky. “What’s wrong?”

“Mhmmmmm….ya’re going to hate me,” Spades wouldn’t look Warrior in the eyes.

“I’ could never hate ya,” A blush spread across her cheeks, soft and pink. It was adorable.

Spades looked at her, cheeks flushed despite the low lighting. “Thats - that’s really sweet.” Warrior gave her a smile. Spades felt a twinge of regret because that smile was going to be _gone_ in .2 seconds. She looked away again, glancing at the floor as she slowly said “So...ya might have to turn human for a night.”

It was a quick motions. One second, Warrior was there and wrapped around Spades and the next - she was gone. A splash, the siren was back in the water, swimming furiously in circles. A voice in her head nagged her _just leave. Take a long nap to my sanctuary - Spades can’t touch me there_ but she shook it off. She was trying to be better about...her feelings and being better with them meant dealing with them - not running away. So she stayed.

“I lied. I hate ya,” She hissed those words but deep down Warrior knew it was impossible to ever hate Spades. Although she lied about it, said that she was much more experienced, Spades was the first person to hold her heart. No one never made her heart flutter in such a vulnerable way or look at someone so softly. No one had even _dared_ to get that close to Warrior. So yes, she might not hate her but _how_ the hell did Spades except this to go well? I’m the author and _I_ don’t know!

“Come on, doll!”Spades leaned over the edge of the tank. A dark voice in Warrior’s heart started whispering, one that she’d to shove off lately. _It would be so easy to pull her in. So easy to drag her down and watch heart stills and her lungs are useless -_ She growled at her self and shook her head again, trying to shake those thoughts away. _No! This is Spades!_ She reminded herself.

It was then that she noticed Spades was still talking “Ya’ll get to see mah apartment and meet mah friends!” Warrior rolled her eyes, diving down for a quick second before coming back up, splashing the night guard with water.

“If ya think that’ll convince me then ya are sadly mistaken.” snapped the siren, fins flaring.

“Come on!! We can cuddle! Then ya can lay on me! Without crushin’ me!” That got her attention. She swam back to her, her pupils dilating as if she was a happy cat. It was true that Warrior was too heavy to sit on Spades without crushing her bones, much to the siren’s dismany. The fat and muscle of her kept Warrior nice and warm but they kept her from sprawling  herself on Spades lap with her face in the crook of her neck, nice and comfortable. If she shifted...she’d be able to do that.

Maybe that’s why she whispered “....one night.” Maybe she was just unable to say no to Spades. Maybe it was both.

Spades grinned and pulled the siren up in a hug. “Ya won’t regret it! Promise!” She cheered. Warrior huffed, returning the hug. For most of the night they hugged and talked. Warrior asked _why_ the sudden desire for her to shift. That’s when she found out about the get together. They had approximately two nights until the get together and the first day was spent researching.

“Can mers become humans??” Spades asked as she typed away on her laptop, going through Google, Bing, pretty much every search engine she could think of. She was a safe distance from where Warrior was carefully going through books. Her hands were thoroughly dried.

“Sirens,” She corrected out of habit, not even look up as she read the pages. Over the centuries, Warrior learned the alphabet from sunken ship sides. All-Speak was handy that way but she kept it herself.

Spades rolled her eyes. “Fine, can _sirens_ become human?”

“Yes,” She answered. Mama used to talk about walking on the land and dancing among humans when her sisters pestered their mother for stories and how she met their sires. The only problem was she couldn’t remember _how_ and little Warrior was different from her sisters. She waited for her stories, earn them so _she_ was the only one who heard them and not one of her nosy, gossiping sisters. “My mother could.” She said casually, flipping the page of a book.

“Is...is that where she met yer father?” Spades asked carefully.

“No.” Warrior said with a snap, although that secret was even lost to the tides of the sea. Warrior huffed, leaning over the book and tried to concentrate but it was hard. Talking about her pod always brought up memories - so many memories that Warrior bottled up after she swam out of her mourning time.  

“So….how did she do it?”

Warrior rubbed her face, trying to remember. Her sisters were interested in going on land to dance like their mother. There was a time that Warrior was excited by the idea of it too. It was all such a long time ago. “She….she said it was about intent?” She drew out the details slowly. Spades paused her typing, an encouraging expression on her face. “A cloth…something about a cloth.” Frustration grew hot in her as the memories stopped. “How much longer?”

“A day.”

“Fuck,”

All they found was legends that gave no answers. Selkies, sirens, mermaids - they even read the Little Mermaid which made Warrior roll her eyes. After Spades left, Warrior curled herself up in her sanctuary. She knew what she had to do. Dream. Dream until Mama arrived and gave her the answer, dream until she remembered, and dream she did.

Warrior was older in the dream, not nearly as young she was in her nightmare. She had to be...what, a hundred and fifty six moons? Her hair was long, tied back with seaweed, her tail was just barely longer than her torso, and she had no scars. She swam after the levithan siren who was hunting for food.  

“Mama!” Her voice squeaked as she swam after the levithan siren. “Mama!!! Tell me of the Vesuvian Masquerade!!” It was rare for Warrior to demand a story, it so shocked Mama that she turned to look at her littlest daughter.

“The Vesuvian Masquerade? Little Warrior, I thought ya no interest in those sorts of things,” Mama’s voice was a low rumble, capable of beautiful songs that lured numerous ships to death and whoo ladies into her arms. Warrior loved her voice, her heart grew at the sound of it.

Warrior pouted and batting her dark eyes “but Mama, ya never talk of the Vesuvian Masquerade!” In reality, Warrior’s intentions weren’t good. She was a perfect angel for the most part but right now she was scheming. She had to hear the story _now_ , the pod was so close to the Vesuvian shore and the Masquerade was only days away after all! Was there any shame in wanting to go have a little fun from her sisters?

Mama swam closer, casting the little siren in her shadow. Upclose, Mama was breathtaking, a beauty to behold from the ocean depths. Even now, Warrior was convinced she didn’t look like her Mama but she could see it now - the same dark, burning eyes, the soft curls that floated in the ocean’s tide, red fins, and a voice unmatched by the rest of the pod.

A large but soft hand caressed her cheek. “Tell me, little Warrior, do ya want to sneak off to the Masquerade?” She looked away, cheeks bright with shame.

“N...no! I’se  just interested in the story….” She lied and they both knew it. Her gils flared, as if they knew what was next - punishment, a scolding, or being grounded in some shape or form. She braced herself for it, whatever it might be.

Instead Mama sighed. “If I tell ya the story, will ya promise not to go?” Warrior perked up, dark eyes wide with shock. A story, all for herself! Something she could bargain with her sisters, a shared moment with their mother, the terror of the seas.

“Oh, yes, Mama!! I won’t, promise!” She jabbled, her tail thrashing with excitement. Mama stroked her cheek, smiling softly at her excited daughter. For a minute, she could see through Mama’s eyes. Mama was fond of her smallest daughter, constantly worried for her as well.  She was so…. _small_ , the littlest of her sisters and any of Mama’s daughters. It wasn’t that Warrior was sickly - just _small_. Back then Warrior was as a children should be - bright, smiling, and eager to please. Returning to her own head, Warrior reflected, knowing what this little thing would grow into. Almost as big as her mother and damn near stronger. Her reputation shadowed her mother’s tenfold, she felt a shameful flick of pride, then she forced her focus.

Mama pulled her close with a smile, her voice took that tone Warrior loved. It was soft. absolutely perfect, balanced correctly. “A long, long time ago, before any of ya, I was a wanderer and any good wanderer found their way to the Vesuvia Masquerade. My first time there, I arrived the day of with barely any gold to buy my silks-”

“Wait!!” interrupted little Warrior, her voice shrill. “How did ya do it?”

Her mother scolded her for interrupting before adding, “Do what?”

“Go on land! Get legs!!” She nudged her mother with a big huff.

Mama scowled, narrowing her beautiful eyes at her daughter. “Now, little Warrior, remember yer promise.” She scolded her.    

“I do! I do! Just tell me!!” pleaded the little siren.

“Warrior, ya’ll learn when yer are older -”

Once again, the little siren interrupted her mother. “But Mama!!! Please!!!! Just tell me!! I promise not to do it until I’m older! Just please tell me!”

“Ya promise?” Mama said carefully, a promise was a powerful thing for the sirens, practically unbreakable if the wording was correct. This might be an issue but inside, Warrior knew that this wouldn’t be an issue. She wasn’t 156 moons any more, she was far older.

“I promise!!” said the little siren, wiggling happily for a secret.

Mama hushed her and told her. It was always best to get the cloth from a sea witch but any red cloth would do. Then the knife and the spell. “The shift needs _pain_ and _intent._ Sing the words confidently and after the third verse, stab yer tail - tie the cloth over the wound and finish the song.”

“What are the worlds?”

“Stay quiet for five seconds and I’ll tell ya,” Then she did, singing the song in a hushed whisper.

_Blood by blood_

_Flash and flood_

_Let this tail become undone._

_What once was one_

_Now be two_

_Remember my scales_

_And make flesh anew_

_Until I wish these legs adieu_

Then Warrior woke up , the words clear in her head. She was quiet for a long time, taking in slow breaths to calm her thundering heart. “I remember now,” she whispered to herself, “I remember, Mama,” Then she waited for Spades. Davey came to talk to her and while she listened, she was still reeling from such the vivid dream. He noticed but he didn’t pry, instead going to get some seaweed.

“Ya fine?” She turned to see Spot, his ears perked slightly. His right ear was torn, she did that. Once when they were sparring, she bit right through it. A flash of guilt ran through her but Spot liked it, said it was “badass”.

“I’m….I’m fine.”

“Yer not fine.” He said.   
    “I don’t want to talk about it, Spot.” He rolled his eyes and swam away, knowing that now wasn’t the time to chit chat about the past. So she waited, swam around, ate a couple fish and waited some more. After hours, Spades arrived, carrying her laptop and some books.

“So, I’se got more books that might help-”

“We don’t need them.” Warrior said, swimming up to the tank’s edge. “I remember.”

Spades stared at her, blinking slowly. “Ya do?” Warrior nodded, pulling herself up on the floor, Spades joining her on the floor. “How?” She asked.

“Dreams.” She said simply. _Maybe sirens dreamed differently than humans_ , Warrior wondered, watching her girlfriends mouth turn into a little ‘o’ before she shut it and nodded.

“So...what do ya need?” Spades asked, deciding it was a probably a good idea to have Warrior to shift now, making sure she could walk and act human.

“I’se need a red cloth, a’ big one. Oh, and a’ knife. And probably something’ to cover me.” Warrior said, studying her scales. “Can ya get me ‘em?”

“Probably. Would a scalpel work for a knife?”

“What’s a scalpel?”

“It’ll probably work.” Off Spades went, searching for a large red cloth  and a big hoodie, thank god for the Gift Shop. Then she stole a scalpel from the surgery room and brought both back to Warrior, handing her the scalpel and the cloth to her. “Be careful with that-”

“I’se know how to handle a knife, Spades,” Warrior rolled her eyes before dunking under the water. She swam maybe five feet down, enough where it was easy to reach the surface and if all else failed, Spades could help her. Under the water, she took a deep breath and started her song.

“ _Blood by blood_

_Flash and flood_

_Let this tail become undone-”_ And then she stabbed herself. Blood filled the water as Warrior inhaled sharply, her vision fuzzing in and out as she dropped the knife and quickly wrapped the wound, all while forcing herself to continue singing.

“ _What once was one_

_Now be two_

_Remember my scales_

_And make flesh anew_

_Until I wish these legs adieu,”_ then she blacked out, sinking, but not for long. When she awoke, she had legs - _legs_. Freckles legs with scars that matched where they were on her tail. She couldn’t help but stare. Everything felt different from her throat to her eyes, stupidly she took a breath and gasped.

 _I can’t breathe!_ She thought then looked at the surface and swam for it. Her head broke the surface and she gasped, her lungs filling with air again. Spades yelped and Warrior swam for her. “Help me, I can’t -” She gripped the edge and her throat sputter - _it felt so weird_ but Spades understood, grabbing her and pulling her out at ease.

“Wow! Look at ya, sweetheart,” Spades looked everywhere. It was interesting how different she looked - her legs weren’t pale, no, they were covered in freckles and scars, Warrior’s throat lacked the gills and her eyes were normal, pupils round. She was shaking, cold with goosebumps on her arm and she was naked. Spades wrapped a towel around her, covering her up.

“Cold,” Her girlfriend muttered as Spades got another towel. After a couple minutes of shaking and teeth chattering, Warrior warmed enough to pull the sweatshirt over her head, it went past her knees. Spades watched as Warrior untied the bloodstained cloth from her leg, moving it to around her neck.

“Want to try walkin’?” she nodded, Spades got up and offered Warrior her hand. She took it, letting Spades haul her up and fell almost immediately, only for Spades to catch her. “Whoa! I got ya,” She leaned back, supporting the siren as both of them struggled to get Warrior on her feet and keep her there. “Okay, so just - one leg forward.” Her arm around the middle of Warrior’s back, as they went on a journey with a lot of tripping and falling, legs wobbling, and lots of encouragement. By the end of Spades’ shift, Warrior could walk around the aquarium for the _most_ part without tripping.

“I can’t believe yer shorter than me,” Spades said foundly, her arm wrapped around Warrior as they walked out of the aquarium. Warrior wasn’t that much shorter, with legs Spades guess she was around 5’9 while Spades herself was 5’11. She could give her forehead kisses!!

“Is height a big deal??” Warrior asked as she both looked around and tried to keep upright.

“I can give ya forehead kisses!”

“That’s nice - fallin’! Fallin’!” Spades caught her again and guided her down the city block. It went without much incident until Warrior tripped and rolled in the road. A strange sound left her lips as she hit the ground, a high pitched noise.

“That’s it!” Spades pulled her girlfriend out of the road and scooped her up, bridal style. The former siren was surprisingly light. “I’m carryin’ ya!” Warrior huffed and craned her neck to look at the human.

“I can walk!”  
    “Clearly not!” Spades kept carrying her until they reached the thrift store and even then, she carried her in. The person at the register just looked at the odd pair, Warrior was half naked and unable to stand and then there was Spades who was trying not to laugh every time Warrior stumbled. They just watched and nodded like _yup. I’ve seen weirder_. First thing was borrowing a measuring table and going back in the dresser.

“What is that?”

“I’mma gonna get yer measurements.”

“Why?”

“So the clothes fit, stay still.” When they left the thrift store, Warrior was dressed and looking more...human. She was dressed nicely, Spades was proud that her girlfriend had a decent fashion taste. Tattered, ripped jeans, ankle boots, a black t-shirt, and a flannel. If they found a hair dryer then lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, and men would be dropping at Warrior’s feet.

“Why do I’ have to wear _this_ ?” She asked on the streets, walking more independently and less tripping. She was getting better at this and something about wearing ankle boots made her feel confident. For the most part, everything was comfortable but _that_ wasn’t.

“What, the bra?”

“ _Yes._ It’s uncomfortable.” It was tight and taunt against her skin, holding her breasts up nicely but Warrior didn’t care. Sirens didn’t wear conch shell bras or shit like that, sure, if they wanted they wear binding or even shirts stolen from sunken ships but Warrior never cared for either.

“Society says we have to,” Spades rolled her eyes with disdain.

“Fuck Society,”

Not even a day in and Warrior already knew the drill. “Atta girl,” Spades said with a grin as they headed towards Jacobi’s, Warrior just following her lead. “So I’m thinkin’ I’ll take ya to dinner and then we can hang in mah room ‘till ‘morrow,”

“Is that what humans do on yer dates?” Warrior asked, walking in to Jacobi’s as Spades held the door for her.

“Well, yeah,” She waved to Jacobi. “Hey Jacobi! A table for two, please!” They waited for a bit before being lead, Warrior carefully sitting down and looking around at everything in the dinner. “Want me to order for ya?”

Warrior handed her the menu. “Please,” she murmured. So she did. Two sodas, burgers with lots of fries. Warrior devoured the food happily. “What are these called?” She munched on another french fries, a look of awe on her face.

“They’re french fries.”

“They are _delicious,_ ”  moaned Warrior. It was a cute little date and at the end of it, they shared a sundae. Spades ate most of it because halfway through Warrior got brain freeze.    

“Shouldn’t have eaten it so fast,” Spades teased, smirking.

“Ya ain’t helpin’,” whined her girlfriend making Spades laugh. After paying the check and figuring out the tip, Spades herded Warrior back to her apartment and when they got to the lobby they considered the options.

“Elevator or stairs...elevator or stairs….definitely the elevator.” Spades pushed the button, thankful it was empty. Warrior startled when it started moving, gripping the railings inside the closed box, a bewildered look on her face. “It’s okay,” Spades put an arm around her and squeezed. The look of relief on the former sirens face was almost comical when they reached her floor. Spades led her to the door and unlocked the door, stepping in. “Hey, Spoons! Ya in here?”

“Who’se Spoon?” Warrior looked around the cozy apartment.

 Spades shrugged off her jacket and hung it up, kicked off her shoes. Warrior followed in suit although she needed a little help. “Just my roommate,”

  “What do you want, Spades-” In walked in Spoons, the sentences dying on her lips as she saw Warrior. “Oh. My. God.” She said slowly, staring at the former siren. Warrior held her gaze, not scared at all. “Spades, where did you find such a cutie???”

“The aquarium, I told ya. Warrior, this is Spoons, Spoons, this is Warrior. Ya’ll see more of her ‘morrow. Night!” Spades stepped past her and herded Warrior to her bedroom. Warrior looked at the slightly messy room and went to poke the bed.

“What’s this?”

“I sleep on it. Pretty comfy,” Spades called over her shoulder, picking out pjs for her and War, and when she turned around Warrior was lying on the mattress.

“This is sooo much better than rocks.” mused the former siren. Spades chuckled and helped War in the pjs. After that, both of the curled in bed, Warrior awing at the softness of everything before cuddling. “Worth it,” Warrior purred in Spades chest. Spades smiles softly and they fell asleep together, spooning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So next chapter might be delayed because I’m probably about to be grounded, thanks to a bad math grade. Maybe not.


	12. The Get Together of Doom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it, folks, THE GET TOGETHER OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM  
> more like snacks and buzzfeed unsolved.

When Spades woke, the sounds of people were already echoing through the thin apartment walls. She groaned softly, draping an arm over her eyes. Sunlight peeked its soft head from the cracks of her curtains. She was warm, far warmer than usual, for a second Spades wondered _why_ was she sleeping with a blanket in the middle of July but then she glanced down and remembered.

Somehow, by some will or way, Warrior sprawled herself across Spades’ body, covering up most of her lanky frame, her head resting above Spades’ heart. She looked peaceful, the noise not even waking her. _Well, I’m stuck_. Spades thought before gently poking her girlfriend’s cheek. “War,” she mumbled, her voice deep and husky from misuse.

The former siren hummed, her lips quirking for a second as she breathed out. “War,” She tried again, gently shaking her. This time the siren’s eyes quirked open for a second before sliding shut again. Spades sighed, sitting up was a bit of drastic but Warrior woke up, yelping before Spades caught her. “Morning, silly,”

Warrior blinked up at her, their noses close to touching. “Morning?” she echoed Spades. She was still half asleep, lost to the world of dreams. Questions raced through the sirens head, wondering where she was and why did her tail feel so weird but then she remembered. Legs, Spades, the get together. She shook her head, sending her dark curls flying.

Spades watched her, a smile on her lips. “Sleep well?”

“Better than ever,” she chimed. With a fluid motion, she rolled off Spades, facing the wall and moving to get comfortable again. “Do we have to get up?”

“Yeah, baby,” Spades checked her alarm. Neon green numbers glared back at her, flashing. **1:29.** “We’se to get a move on,” The siren whined, making a noise impossible for a human. “Come on,” She swung her legs over the side of her bed and forced herself to get up.

Warrior stayed on the bed, rolling over to where Spades was to soak up all the warmth. She avoided the temptation of joining her girlfriend back in bed as she picked out clothes from her closet and grabbed another set of clothes they bought yesterday. She tossed the clothes on the bed, hitting the siren in the face. “War, up.” Then she did the damning part, opening the blinds.

Warrior hissed, sitting up and wiping the sleep out of her eyes. “I’se up,” she hissed, sliding out the bed on wobbling legs and started getting dressed. She needed help with her bra, still mumbling complaints about it as Spades did it up.

“No, no, tie it around yer waist,” Spades took the flannel out of her hands and tied the red fabric around Warrior’s waist, leaving her scarred shoulders exposed.

“Why??” Warrior asked, crinkling up her nose.

“Because it’s cute,” Her girlfriend kissed her shoulder. It was a pretty damn cute outfit, nice and cool for July. Dark jeans, ankle boots from the previous day, a black tank top that left her shoulders exposed and the flannel around her waist. Her dark hair fell in nice curls without even being brushed. She looked like a girl that turned heads, one Spades either would crush from afar or just say ‘fuck it’ and ask for her number.

Warrior snorted, sitting back on the bed and crossed her legs. Despite being only on land for less than 24 hours, Warrior was pretty good at picking up on social cues just from watching Race, Spades, and Jack. Spades watched how sometimes Warrior rolled her right shoulder like Jack did, despite not even having to. Spades wondered if War knew she was even doing it. Either way soon as Spades was dressed, they were out the door to meet whoever was waiting for them.

“Spades!” They made their way to the kitchen, Jack and Race perched in the chairs at the island. At the mere sight of Jack, Warrior bared her non-sharp teeth, trying to look threatening but he just blinked at her. “How did ya…?”

Race let loose a low whistle. “Wow, War, yer a lesbian icon.” He grinned at her, quickly moving on from the fact Warrior had legs.

Warrior frowned, “I’se don’t know what ‘hat is.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Race shrugged, Jack was still staring before he blinked out of the stupor and glanced at Spades, a question hanging off his lips. She shrugged, making her way to the cupboards with Warrior on her heels, grabbing a box of cereal. “Jackie, move,”

“Why?”

“War, still wants to kill ya, go hang with Al,”

“Ya ain’t the boss of me.”

“Are ya delusional?” Jack went grumbling, Warrior was hesitant to take his spot but Race smiled. “I’se don’t bite,” he teased as Spades poured two bowls of cereal out. Sure, they were late for breakfast but screw it.

“I do,” Warrior replied, looking at the bowl in front of her. Spades took the chair next to her. “What’s this?”

“Cereal. Hope ya ain’t lactose intolerant.” Today was just crossing fingers and hope the best when it came to food. Warrior ate all kinds of fish and if her stomach handled digesting human flesh, something humans got sick from, Spades figured she’d be fine. Warrior rolled her right shoulder, watched Spades eat for two seconds before mimicking her.

Race relaxed as they ate, chattering about certain things as they listened. Spoons were off getting the good old booze, Albert dragged him and Jack here about an hours before they got up, and Specs and Romeo were getting more snacks. “Plans is True Crime marathon, Spoons keeps talkin’ about goin’ down to ‘he beach.” He glanced at Warrior again, thinking about how the siren might do being brought back to the beach. Would she run? Take off and dive right back into the ocean? or be her best behavior and stay? This was _Warrior_ they were talking about, after all.

Spades left her spoon in her bowl with a sigh. “Yer kiddin’.”

“Nope.” Spades sighed, rubbing her face.

“I’ll behave,” Warrior piped up, looking at both of the humans. “I’ will.” Her face was set with determination. She knew their worries, knew how much in trouble they’d get if she randomly disappeared. _Spades would cry if I left her and I’se can’t do that_.

“Are ya sure-” one of them started, Warrior didn’t care which, she cut them off in an instant.

“I ain’t leavin’. Not without Spot.” and the tiger shark mer was nowhere to be seen. "Or Davey," How could she abandon Davey? There was no doubt in her mind, tomorrow, she planned on walking into the aquarium on her two feet and slipping back in the water to reclaim her tail. With her final statement, War shoved another spoonful of cereal in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. The conversation drifting elsewhere.

“How’d ya do it?” Race pestered her as Warrior brought her empty bowl to the sink.

“Do what?” She repeated, Mama’s ghost rising from her lips.

Race rolled his deep blue eyes, his fingers tapping against the countertop. Even now, he was always in motion. “Ya know - the _legs_.”

“Siren secrets, can’t tell ya.” She told him, making her way back to Spades. Now they were in the living room with Albert, Jack, and Race on her heels. She settled next to Spades, setting her sights on Albert. He was redhead, nice brown eyes, and scrawny. _Finch would love him_. A memory of Finch mooning over a similar looking human 1450 moons ago flickered through her head. The flying fish wanted her to sing him down the sea, he begged her.

_“Come on, War, please?” He batted his eyes at her, his tail whipping up little whirlpools._

_She looked up at the redhead above the water, working on the docks and hollering to someone. Sure, he was cute but Warrior never saw the appeal of men. “Finch. Unless ya want me to eat him, the answer is no.”_

_She swam away, diving deeper and farther from the docks. The voice in her head reminded her she was still too close. Finch followed her, his translucent fins on his arms spreading in the water. “Come on!” he whined_

_“No! He’ll drown, what’s the point!” She snapped._

_“I’se just want to kiss ‘im, War, just one.” He begged she didn’t turn her head. Instead, she kept swimming, spotting an octopus that might make a nice snack. She swam after it, claws reaching out._

_“Leave ‘em, Finch. ‘ere ain’t no point with humans, ya’ll only get burnt.”_

Warrior was the  _biggest_ hypocrite ever- the pod would never let her live it down. She sighed, thinking about Finch and the pod brought a wave of homesickness she couldn’t ignore. “Ahhh...why ‘e lookin’ at me?” Albert whispered to Race. Instead of helping, Race shrugged.

Warrior shook her head. “Sorry, ya look like someone mah friend liked.” Of course, the redhead human was dead. Long dead - humans simply lacked the lifespans of mers. 

“Yeah? Was he devilishly handsome as me?” He asked, a smile on his face.

She shrugged. “I didn’t get a good look at ‘im. Maybe.” Finch seemed to fall in love with every redhead he came across, the face of his crushes never lingered long in Warrior's mind but she saw Finch head over heels in love. It was supposed to be annoyed but frankly, she was content if Finch fell in love with this one, he seemed nice. Maybe she was going soft.  _Definitely going soft._

Even though Warrior was disinclined to be in the spotlight, she was standing right in it, center stage. She was dating one of their best friends, as the others joined and started getting comfortable, more questions about her poured him. "Where ya from?" "How long have ya and Spades been datin'?" "How ya get dat scar?" Spades huffed, wrapping her arm around her girlfriend. "What is 'his? An interrogation??" Warrior rested her head against Spades chest. Really, she didn't mind the questions. She just didn't know how to answer them. 

"We'se just asking questions, Spades!" The youngest protested, Romeo. "And ya haven't brought 'er around before so-"

"Cuz yer obnoxious," Spades grinned followed by a lot of 'heeyy!!!' and Race even called out "We know but hey!" Spades rolled her eyes again before continuing. "And if ya  _have_ to know, she's from Portland." 

Specs raised a brow. "Portland? Wow, ya ain't from around 'ere." Warrior shrugged. "Why ya move?" 

"Job opportunity." 

"How did ya get 'hat scar?" Romeo softly poked at the large scar across her right shoulder. It was one of her worse scars, taking almost an entire year to heal. She was still on her own when it happened - some idiot harpooned her, thinking she was some kind of small whale. She sunk the ship but the harpoon ripped across her shoulder, leaving a gaping wound heading towards infection. In the end, she traded her song of  _one year_ to a sea witch to clean out the infection. Unlike that bitch in the Little Mermaid, sea witches hold to their word and Warrior got it back in years time with a very interesting scar. But she couldn't say that, could she? "Fishing incident." Not a lie and the answer seemed to please the group. Before they could pester more questions, Spoons busted in, booze in tow. 

"Who's ready for some Buzzfeed Unsolved?!" She jeered. "ME" was shouted by everyone in the group, even Warrior joined in despite not knowing what on earth was Buzzfeed Unsolved. The poor girl was going to get an education in how much more awful humans were. 

"So how much are we'se watchin'?" Specs askes as they all got comfortable, junk food and blankets as Spoons set it up with some voodoo magic. Kidding, she got youtube on the T.V and selected True Crime playlist. Why only True Crime? Cuz the author has a favorite THAT'S WHY. "Like all six seasons?" 

"God no," Jack grumbled, pushing Race over a cushion. "To binge watch, all the episodes of True Crime would take 19 hours, seven minutes, and fifty-three seconds." They all turned and stared at him. 

"And ya know that how???" Albert asked. 

"Crutchie did the math." No. I did the math, dear reader. I wasted half an hour just doing the math. HALF AN HOUR. AND THAT'S JUST TRUE CRIME. "We'se just watching, how many Spoons? 1 and 2?"" 

"Three if we feel like it!" she chimed, signaling Jack and Albert to turn off the lights before selecting the first episode. The screen turned black before the white letters flashed 'THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF THE SOMERTON MAN'followed by a smooth man's voice. "Did you ever hear the story of the man on Somerton Beach?" followed by another man's saying "No." The episode continued and Warrior watched, listening to the facts and kept her questions to herself. Soon, five hours passed like it was nothing and the former siren found herself giggling at the jokes and snark between Shane and Ryan, tilting her head at the theories, and shaking her head at the idiocy of human police in some of these cases. She looked at Spoons, befuddled when she turned off the TV and the lights were turned on. Surely, they could watch more!

"Darlin', can ya get off my lap? I can't feel my legs," Spades muttered in her ear. 

"Oh!" She scrambled off and up, stumbling on her own legs. They were tingling oddly and it freaked her out, the pins and needles. Spades stood and stretched, others following in suit. "What time is it?" Spades asked her arms over her head. 

Race checked his phone. "7:21," 

"Perfect! Who wants to head to the beach?" There was grumbling and groaning. "Fine how about we just finish up the other three seasons." 

"Please???" Warrior pleaded. 

"Snack break!" Romeo yelled and darted in the kitchen, bring back chips and soda. Others ventured forth to get more snacks that they liked but in the end, it was all junk food. Spades came back with Warrior's favorite kind of chips and they shared the bag as they snuggled and watched. By the time they got to the video about the murder of Bugsy Siegel, nearly everyone was passed out. jack and Race were leaning against each other in sleep, Romeo was gently snoring. Spades was still awake because her job was like this and Spoons was just determined. Warrior was fueled by the fascination of the boys and had that 'watching it for the first time' wonder. When it was over, she looked up at Spades, a pout on her face. 

"That’s it?" She whined. 

Spades chuckled and kissed her head. "When they update, I'll show ya first thing." 

"Promise?" 

"Promise." Spoons turned off the tv with a yawn, she didn't speak when Spades and Warrior sneaked back to Spades room, rather than sleep on the couch. Really they should be sneaking Warrior back in the aquarium, really they should but they were tired and sleepy, more inclined to fuck up. Instead of sneaking back into an aquarium, they changed into their pjs and crashed on Spades' bed. "baby?" Spades muttered in Warrior's hair, holding her close. 

"Hm?" 

"Can ya sing 'hat song again?" 

"Which one?" 

"'he courtin' song." Warrior hummed a little, warming up her vocal cords. They were still magic despite the transformation, maybe she couldn't lure people to their death but Warrior had a feeling she might be able to get people to...stop and stare. Warrior opened her mouth and let the song unspool from her throat. It sounded right even with her human tongue. Spades listened, _really_ listened with her eyes shut. When it was done, Spades asked "Can ya sing it slower?" Warrior obliged, singing it slower this time, not that the courting song wasn't already slow and sweet to begin with. When she finished again, it was Warrior's turn to ask. 

"Why?" 

"Because I' want to try somethin'. Don't laugh." and then Spades began to sing the courting song. What does Spades voice sound like? Like Jen Foster. What does that mean?  _It's really fucking nice._ Warrior perked up, turning to look at her girlfriend in awe and amazement. Sure, the pronunciation was goddess awful and lacking magic but she - she was _trying_. Tears filled Warrior's eyes as she listened to the courting song being sung back to her. When she finished, singing off the last note. "It was awful, I' know," Spades started. 

"It was wonderful," Warrior purred, reaching up to kiss her before Spades could say anything further, grinning like a lovestruck idiot. Which she was, goddess,  she was so much in love with this woman. And that's how they spent the night, kissing and cuddling before finally, drifting off to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been working on this baby for a month. This is my pride and joy. Holy shit it's done.  
> Sometimes you delay a chapter a month to write it. And then there are days where you're playing BitLife and make 16 newsies OCs from Stanton Island. Yes, that's right. SIXTEEN. WITH NAMES. AND WHY THEY ARE NAMED SUCH. Why am I like this???


	13. Time to break some glass!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Warrior breaks the aquarium's glass and a newsie makes an entrance. 
> 
> ~WARNING!!! WARNING! This chapter contains mentions of cat-calling, getting a concussion, some blood, and stitching a head wound. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!~

Warrior knew she was dreaming. In the dream, she shredded her mortal skin and felt the ocean salt on her skin, when her gills breathed in perfect, unfiltered water for the first time in months but she didn’t care. Swirling up the sea foam, Warrior turned and dove down - a sound of pure joy escaping her lips. She swam deeper and deeper until she got sick off it and shot up back to the surface, breaking the water, laughing. “Enjoying yourself?” Spades asked, sitting in a rowboat, and Warrior remembered.

She _wasn’t_ dreaming or it didn't feel like one. Davey and Spot were swimming in the sea with her, she blinked at their delighted faces then turned to her girlfriend. “I’se  p-paralyzed with happiness!” she giggled. It was like someone drugged her but she was too happy to care. She was _home_ and Spades was here. The Brooklyn girls grinned at each other as Warrior circled the boat, lazily and non-threatening.

Then she woke up. Warrior was back in her tank, fresh from her exploration of the human world. She settled in her sanctuary, having returned when everyone was sleeping. She breathes in filtered air through her gills. Carefully, she ran a claw down them, feeling them flare up at her touch.

It felt nice to have them again after nearly scaring her. It was the next morning after the binge-watch, Spades and she were casually making out - a little longer than they should have and Warrior ran out of air. She pulled away quickly, pressing her fingers to her neck - where her girls were supposed to be. _They’se gone!_ She wailed. Spades pulled her in a hug and whispered to her. _It’s okay, baby, you’ll get them soon._

Warrior looked towards the ceiling of the tank, the fractured water with its dim lights. Spades wasn’t waiting for her up there, no, Spades was home and sleeping. Spoons hadn’t asked where they were going when the girls left to bring Warrior home. It felt weird back, she seemed to fit in the apartment but she was back, not home. The aquarium might be where she was stuck but it would never be home. Even with all the gifts, it had given her. With a sigh, Warrior shut her eyes and drifted to sleep. Nightmares and dreams left her.  

Have you ever been lectured by someone younger than you? It’s weird. You’re half smug but half terrified - that’s how it was to Warrior when Spot gave her the tongue lashing of her life the next morning.“I’se old enough to be yer great grandmother,” An octopus fucked up earlier by letting her see it, now she was hunting it.  

“How ‘he _fuck_ is ‘hat relevant?!!!” Spot yelled, swimming after you. “‘here did ya go!?”

“I’ took a ground trip.” She snatched up the poor cephalopod, killing it quickly before starting to eat it. She offered a tentacle to Spot, blue blood floating from it. “C’mon, Spotty, take ‘t,”

He took the tentacle and stuffing it in his mouth. “‘hat do ya mean ‘a ground trip’?” he said between chewing.

Warrior bit into another tentacle. Then she pointed to her newest scar, it was small and a  clean cut but something about magic made it stay. After she transformed, Spades was given her cloth to keep it, it was still magic, the ritual only needed to be done once for a cloth. “I’se went on land, legs and all.” He stared at her as she pushed another tentacle in his hand. _‘e needs to eat more, they’se all too skinny._

“I’ thought ya didn’t know ‘ow to do dat,”

She shrugged and ate the rest of the octopus. “I’ remembered,” Spot opened his mouth to ask more questions but they were interrupted by Davey.

“WARRIOR.” He launched himself at the bigger siren, both relieved and angry. It was a weird mix, one that he was unsure of but right now he didn’t care. “Warrior, what the _fuck_ \- where have you been?!” he thumped her with his tail, it barely hurt.

“That was a good one!” she cheered “do it again!” Warrior insisted on teaching Davey to fight moons ago after he caught her and Spot sparring. It was terrifying but the bloodied Warrior turned to look at the horrified Davey.

_“What are you doing?!?!?! Are you trying to kill each other?!” He was horrified but not surprised. Warrior and Spot were both alpha types, both leaders in their different way. It seemed natural that one day, one would snap at the other and bloodshed would ensue._

_“Of course not,” Spot huffed, swimming away from Warrior. Bruises were already forming, claw marks danced on his fins and torso. None of them seemed enough to kill him._

_“We’se sparing,” Warrior said, she was in a similar state of Spot. Sure, the siren was bigger, deadlier, and older but Spot always gave her a run for her money. He was able to slip under her guard and strike - that’s why she liked him. “Ya want to try?”_

_He visually flinched at the thought. “You would kill me. I’m soft and squishy.”_

_She swam closer, blood leaking from a couple of cuts. She cocked her head to the side and watched him. “Yer skinny, that’s true, but ‘hat tail of yers could do some damage,” Warrior circled him, taking in all of him._

_He squirmed under her harsh eyes. “I’ don’t want to hurt anyone.”_

_Warrior closed her eyes and took a breath through her lungs. When she opened her eyes, they were dimmed with sadness. “It ain’t about want, Davey. One day, someone might try to kill ya and ya need to be ready.”_

_“Might,” Davey pointed out, “Someone might never.”_

_“Better safe than sorry,” Spot grumbled and Davey knew he wasn’t getting out of this, so he relented. They taught him how to thwack someone, where to hit right, and where to bite. All like he meant it. “Keep practicing. That’s key.” One of them reminded him every day and eventually, it was just apart of Davey’s routine. He wasn’t like Warrior but he could take someone in a fight now. Probably._

_“Good!” Warrior crowed when he succeeded in giving her a black eye._

_“Oh - g-d, that looks awful! I’m sorry!” He’d wailed._

_“Good, good,” she cheered, seeming to be too ecstatic to be feeling the pain. “Now! Go try it on Jack!”_

_“I'M NOT GIVING JACK A BLACK EYE!”_

But now he was fuming. “No! That’ll just give you satisfaction!” She grinned, still rather pleased with him. “Where were you!?!”

“‘he went up to the surface,” Spot answered, chewing on something rubbery. Davey turned to him with disbelief.

“How???”

“‘he ain’t tellin’ me.”

He looked at Warrior, eyes now glittering with guilty curiosity. “How?”

“Siren secrets, can’t tell ya,” she echoed from two nights ago, remembering what she said to Race. _Was it a secret?_ Did sirens tell mers about how they left the sea? Warrior was young when her pod died and she never joined another siren pod. “‘t wouldn’t work for ya anyway,” A lie? Maybe.

“How can you be sure about that?” Davey pointed it out. Warrior frowned, she wasn’t sure.  Everyone knew Mers and Sirens were different. Sirens had magic and could leave the salty waters but mers were bigger in numbers since they stayed away from humans.

“I ain’t.” Warrior swam off, leaving the conversation, leaving the two boys alone.

Spot gave Davey a side glance. “Why’se ya askin’?”

Davey shrugged, “just curious,” but there was something in his eyes as he swam off. The next days were boring; filled with chatting with their respective humans, hunting, some sparring, and sunbathing. Then it happened.

You see, Warrior had this little habit of hers. Most of the guests were annoying - they tapped on glass or just jabbered stupid questions she heard through the glass but that didn’t really bother her anymore. The blunt of annoyance smoothing itself out moons ago but then there were _others_. Warrior didn’t care about keeping her chest covered - no shell bra for her. The main reason was water resistance was a bitch and the second was Warrior really didn’t care. The boys in her pod didn’t care, any other female was the same way as were the males born the wrong sex but humans….humans were awful.

Not all humans. Spades wasn’t, Spades was lovely and so was Race and Jack, they didn’t care. Most females didn’t care either but the men. _Ugh._ They whistled or made gestures or said disgusting things at Warrior. At first, she blinked at them, too uncaring of humans to give a shit but day after day of it? It was getting on her nerves. Warrior knew what she was _supposed_ to do - swim away, ignore them, turn a deaf ear all the bullshit but that wasn’t in Warrior’s vocabulary.

Instead, she unsheathed her claws and charged at them, teeth bared. She smashed against the glass every time and it _hurt_ but it scared the absolute _shit_ out of the men. Her laughter could be heard throughout the tank whenever she did it. Eventually, she took to slamming the glass with her tail, powerful _wacked_. It sent people running and she crackled with glee since it was more sound than force and that’s what happened then.

Warrior wasn’t sure if it was because her patience was breaking or if she was too pissed to care. It was the usual - the gestures, the laughing remarks at her. She was on her back, soaking up nice sunshine when it started, she sighed and unsheathed her claws. _Maybe they’ll just go away._ It didn’t surprise Warrior when they didn’t, she sat up and glared, giving them a flash of a toothy grin. It only riled them up more.

Maybe that was what made her restrain break. She wasn’t some fucking _pet_ , she was a monster of the seven seas - if they were on the open seas they’d be _dead_ . She slammed into the glass and clawed at it despite her head pounding. Her tail slammed against the glass with a horrifying _thunk_ \- that’s when the cracks started to appear. Big, terrifying cracks, Warrior crackled as they spread even she saw spots.

The aquarium shut down for the week, closing right in the middle of the day. The cracks were, to say the least - _bad._ “You’re lucky they didn’t shatter when she first hit them. She’s been wearing them down, can’t you tell?” said one of the boys helping replace the glass. The new glass would be thicker and stronger. This, they hoped would hold back Warrior and prevent the tanks from breaking.

Speaking of the siren, she was whining softly in a smaller tank. Warrior didn’t remember being pulled out of the water by handlers. She _did_ remember being examined by a young veterinary/nurse. “I’ need ya to stay still, Warrior,” cooed the boy, he talked like she did - she found it weird. He was looking at her head, the siren was on her stomach out of the water, her gills protesting furiously. She found herself staring at the red cloth wrapped around his neck. She shifted so she could touch it but her hand dropped and her claws tinked against the buttons on his shirt. He stiffened. “Easy, girl, I’se ain’t goin’ to hurt ya,”  

Buttons wasn't terrified. Oh, sure, he appeared to be but Warrior wasn’t going to kill him in her state. Gently, he picked up her head and turned it sightly, examining her scalp closely. There were clusters of glass mixed in her hair and blood - there was a gash somewhere, hidden in her matted curls. “What’s ‘he last thing ya remember, War?” he asked, supporting her head with one hand and picking scissors up in his now free hand.

“Unshealthin’ my claws,” She replied, not flinching as he started to cut away her curls. Buttons sighed with relief when he found the gash and set the scissors aside. He eyed it, thankfully the bloody thing wasn’t still bleeding or filled with glass. It a decent gash, although no gash was decent, Buttons had seen worse.

“I’ need my surgical kit,” he told one of the other vets, they were quick to hand it to him. Buttons didn’t dare glance at the nearby tank where the other mers, Spot, and Davey were watching him like a hawk. He didn’t want to think what they might do to him if he fucked this up. He opened his kit and pulled out the right kind of suture, along with disinfectant and an Advil. “Take this,” he placed the pill in her mouth. She swallowed it without question. Then he asked her more routine questions as they waited for the pill to kick in. All signs lead to her having a concussion. Buttons ruled she had a concussion then he started working on her head. “‘his is goin’ to hurt. Don’t kill me, okay?” he told Warrior.

“Okay.” And she kept her promise. Although she hissed as the needle entered her head, she didn’t squirm or slit his throat.

Buttons got a rhythm going with his needle. _In, Out, In, Out, In, Out. like a heartbeat._ It was over as quickly as it began. Afterward, he tied the sutures and carefully wrapped her head. “See, that wasn’t bad!” 

Warrior hummed in response. “Come on, let’s move ‘er,” he called to his colleagues. Carefully, they lifted up the siren and transferred into the smaller tank with the other mers. “Keep ‘er head above water for about two days,” He told Spot and Davey. The siren was quiet, staring at Button’s red scarf again.

“Two days?” Davey asked.

“Her gash won’t be able to get infected after 48 hours. Ya’ll have to cover her stitches with something waterproof.” He pointed out her stitches and explained to them. They nodded and promised they would keep her head out of water.

Warrior was starting to nod off, Spot was holding her up but her eyes remained focus on the scarf around Buttons’ neck. “Scarf.” she whispered and Spot gave her a funny look.

Buttons stiffened, his fingers curling in the red material but the expression of shock vanished quickly. “Oh! And make sure ‘he rests. Lots of it.” then he told the boys about the symptoms and treatments of a concussion. After nodding and confirmation he got it, Buttons stood. His shift was ending and he wanted to get home to his boyfriend. “I’se got to go. Remember - stitches out of the water!” then he was gone and Warrior was still narrowing her glazed eyes at him and muttering stuff like _siren_ and _scarf._

The next couple of days were all muddled. Everyone visited, the only three she remembered were Spades and Jack, Jack because she remembered being pissed he was talking to Davey and Spades - Spades was wonderful. She kissed the side of her head with her gash and together they were just grossly cute. Like sickening cute, so cute  Spot looked at them and faked gagging. Warrior used a gesture taught to her by sailors, the good old middle finger. He flipped one back. Warrior barked at him and he swam away to Race, hissing at her. They were just play fighting anyway. 

Eventually, the mers and one siren were brought back to the main tank once the new glass was firmly placed and the tank was refilled. The employees of the aquarium were still bringing back the fish but slowly things were going back to normal. Although there was definitely a decrease in the number of catcallers towards Warrior so in the end - Worth it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this took forever to write! Also my Mer-May contributions, YAY!!! *claps*  
> Why Buttons? Cuz WHY NOT Buttons?!!  
> Do you have something to say Buttons?  
> “Trans rights.”  
> Thank you Buttons


End file.
